February 08th, 2023

​Hello! 
Dear brother in Christ.
Against Calvinism.
Number 1. God hates all sinners.

No!

-Yes, 

Leviticus 20:23
Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.

Leviticus 26:30
I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.

Psalm 5:5,6
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

Deuteronomy 18:12
For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.

Deuteronomy 22:5
“A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Psalm 11:5
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence His soul hates.

Malachi 1:2
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob;

Romans 9:13
Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Deuteronomy 1:27
and you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.

Deuteronomy 9:28
Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.”

Jeremiah 12:8
“My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has roared against Me;
Therefore I have come to hate her.

Psalm 106:40
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people
And He abhorred His inheritance.

Hosea 9:15
All their evil is at Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will love them no more;
All their princes are rebels.

Jeremiah 14:19
Have You completely rejected Judah?
Or have You loathed Zion?
Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing?
We waited for peace, but nothing good came;
And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!
​

The word became flesh because he loves sinners. 

He came to his own, and his own people  did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.   -John 1:11‭-‬14

-The word became man because he wanted to show his glory to us. Those who believe are the us. The word became flesh because he loves some sinners. 

-Also Yes, 

-With emphasis on the some:

I think this topic ties into the doctrine of limited atonement, so here are some verses about both limited atonment and spesific love:

Matt. 1:21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save …His people… from their sins.”

Matt. 20:28 “… just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for … many.”

Matt. 26:28 “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for …many… for the remission of sins.”

John 10:11, 15 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for …the sheep. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for …the sheep.”

Acts 13:48 “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. …And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” (only those, and all of those God offered eternal life, believed.. this verse is key in understanding how the first christians understood salvation.)

Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Jesus purchased the church of God, those who would believe, not everyone)

Rom. 8:32-34 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (here, paul uses the term "us" casually but there directly afterwards clarifying by defineing who "us" is… the elect, God the father, poured out his wrath on his own son.. for his elect)

Eph. 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Christ gave himself for the church, not everyone. Husbands lay down your lives for your wives. Can you see this analogy dies if Christ laid his life down for everyone? Am i supposed to lay my life down for all women? In my opinion, the idea Jesus died for everyone but doesn't save them is like having premarital relations. If i make a covanant with my wife, i keep it, i lay my life down for her. If Christ makes a covanant with everyone to lay his life down for them and atone for them, surely he would do it, but he made a covanant with his church, not the world, and he will keep it)

Heb. 2:17 “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (the people, not everyone)

Heb. 9:15, 28 “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” (many, not all)

Rev. 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (us, out of every tribe and people. the elect is not everyone in the whole world, but is in fact people from every nation and language, like my wife, fang, she was the elect here in Thailand, and i know others who were marked by God out of their pagan relatives and set apart for God)

Hebrews 12:6 "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (God does not love everyone the same)

Against lack of freedom and affirmation of God's love.
If we have no freedom and are merely pawns, then how is Gods mercy exemplified by only saving some?

-Pauls answer in Romans 9 (really dig into this, there is a lot to process here, and i am always finding new gems in here)

This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.  You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,  “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”   “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”  And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted,   “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,  we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”  What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness  did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,  “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;  and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”   -Romans 9:8‭-‬33


-Moses' answer in Exodus

And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord , when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.   -Exodus 7:1‭-‬6  (Again, God does not want pharaoh to sin, or to disobey his commands, but at the same time, God desires to display his greatness among the nations, and deliver the nations in a dramatic manner. In my view, this is the same thing we see in romans 9, and also is a great passage to meditate on.)


-We do have freedom but not free will. Free will is the false teaching that our will can choose something outside of God's sovereign will. If predestination is true, which it is biblical and you affirm the bible as true, so you must also affirm, then our will is limited to what God has already predestined. Because our knowledge is limited, our choice is unbiased and feels free, but is not free will in the sense that God leaves our salvation up to our own exercise of will. Remember, we are not saved by works, so that no man can boast. If your exercising your will leaves room for you to boast, it most certainly is a work, a good deed, and we must affirm that we are not saved by such. 

-Verses that explicitly say we are not saved by exercising our will:

who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.   -John 1:13
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.   -Romans 9:16
“‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”   -Acts 13:41 
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.   -Romans 8:8 
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins   -Ephesians 2:1 (a dead man is helpless)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.   -Ephesians 2:8‭-‬10  (works are predestined, not required as a condition)

Born again verses (we can not decide to be born again):

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.   -2 Corinthians 4:6
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,   -Titus 3:5 
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.   -Ezekiel 36:26
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again  he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You  must be born again.’  The wind  blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”   -John 3:3‭-‬8 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.   -2 Corinthians 5:17
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;   -1 Peter 1:23 (imperishable is a key word here)
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.   -1 John 3:9
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins   -Ephesians 2:1
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith.   -1 John 5:4 
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.   -1 Corinthians 2:14
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.   -John 6:44 
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   -Galatians 2:20 
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.   -Philippians 1:6 

Would he not save all because his mercy is infinite? Then truly we could say God has defeated Satan and evil has perished completely. 
Is it not better to ask why he doesn't save us all?

-I encourage you to stop challenging God with human logic, and start observing what God's word has explicitly stated instead. 


If we had no free will, then God would save us all and defeat Satan in all of us. Because he hates the works of Satan, why else did he die on the cross. 

-The death of Christ on the cross was atonement. It was payment for the sins of everyone it was intended for. In the old testament, it was not possible to make sacrifice for someone's sin and then leave it up to them to accept or not accept. The atonement Christ made on the cross was for everyone who would believe, another term the new testament uses is church, another term which leaves no room for error is elect. 


Does God not "Search out man's heart for those who desire God"
And also said of those who are heavy laboured and slaves to sin.
"Come unto me all you who labour and our heavy laden".
Is this a command or a choice. It is both, it is saying. For those who wish to be saved come unto me. If it were a command all who heard it would say yes! Because God is all powerful. 

Here it is in its context:

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;  yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:25‭-‬30

- note: Jesus Thanks God that God has hidden the truth from some and revealed it to the elect, then Jesus gives credit to the will of God, and then Jesus explicitly says no one knows God but those whom Jesus chooses to reveal God to. In this context, Jesus is saying that those who come are elect, and that no one else can come, then he follows by making an invatation to those who will come… who are they who come? The elect. Those who Jesus does not reveal God to, can not come. They lack the ability. This is the 1 cor. 2:14 principle 

- What does Jesus say about his sheep? He says that his sheep will come. All who come are his sheep. So whoever comes to Christ was chosen by Christ. All who Christ calls will come. So, no, this is not a call to everyone, allowing everyone to either choose or deny. This is a call to Christ's sheep, and those who truly hear with the ears of their heart, will come. 

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.   -John 6:37

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.  It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—  not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.   -John 6:44‭-‬46

but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  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.   -John 10:26‭-‬29


A human is able to reject God. We can say, I have seen your goodness but my heart does not want it. For example, judas experienced the fullness of communion with God in the last supper, yet he rather wanted to choose Satan. You argue that he was not enlightened by God because God did not wish to enlighten him? Why then was he included in the feast that symbolized everlasting life. 

- Judas was possessed by the devil. (…). No, no one can reject the call of God, remember, all who Christ calls, will come. The bible says of Judas that he was never one of us ""(). I argue that he was not enlightened because God did not wish to enlighten him so that the prophecy might be fulfilled. (…)

John 13:10‭-‬11  "Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet,  but is completely clean. And you  are clean, but not every one of you.”  For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” (Here, before the bible says satan entered Judas, Jesus knew Judas would betray him. Jesus knew before it happened because it was not a choice that judas made of his free will, rather a choice that judas was going to make, because Judas was never one of them, he was predestined to do it, and Jesus' prophecy had to come true in order for the scriptures to be fufilled)

John 13:26‭-‬27‭- Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”    (Why did satan enter into him the moment Jesus gave him the bread? Was it because Jesus is responsible for who he reveals God to or not? Wasn't this a statement of condemnation? Wasn't Jesus handing him over to Satan? What could Judas do with his free will in this situation? In the same way that murderer saul did not choose with his free will to be blinded by light on the road to Damascus, so also, Jesus did not choose with his free will to be handed over to Satan here.)

John 6:61‭-‬65- But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?  Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  But there are some of you who do not believe (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (this passage i mentioned before actually directly references Judas, so that's convenient. I learned something new, and for that i am grateful for this discussion)

1 John 2:19- They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (I was confusing this verse in my head with the verse above, but it is still useful for explaining that many who leave were never christian to begin with, just like Judas)



-If you are born again, you are not able to reject God:

John 10:28   -I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Philippians 1:6   -And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:5   -Who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Romans 11:29    -For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

2 Timothy 1:12   -Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

John 10:27-29   -My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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.

1 John 3:9   -No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Ephesians 4:30   -And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Justification begins with the work of God alone, we are sealed, that is a permanent thing, however the process of Sanctification does require the use of our regenerated will. There is a battle between our flesh and the Spirit of God within us)

Jude 1:24    -Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24    -Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

2 Timothy 4:18-   The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Romans 8:38-39-   For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 7:25    -Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

John 5:24-   Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

2 Peter 1:10    -Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (and the elect will practice them, test yourself in the light of scripture to see if you are in the faith, we must do this because we are human, and the only way to know if we are elect is if we are producing fruit, so we must make our election sure, or make sure we are truely elect in other words)

Ephesians 1:13-14   -In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:4   -Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

John 6:39   -And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

1 Peter 1:3-5    -Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (a constant theme here is "to be revealed in the last time", many of these verses have the same kind of language. Its as if the names of the elect are written in a book which will be read someday ;)

1 Peter 1:23    -Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Titus 3:5    -He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 1:13    -In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

1 Corinthians 1:8    -Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Are we slaves to God or servants.
God said the Truth sets you free not enslaves you. 

-… free from sin. 

- but slaves to righteousness 

Romans 6:15-23    -"What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

- and sons of God who are like slaves in almost every way

Galatians 3:26‭-‬29, 4:1‭-‬7    -for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Here the apostle paul clarifies that he does not mean that we are freed from sin to be wild and free with the world with complete free will, rather he says a son is a slave in every way but better than a slave because we share ownership, we have an inheritance. This is foundational in understanding what paul means when he says son)

Ephesians 1:4‭-‬6‭, ‬11‭-‬14    -even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,  to the praise of his glory.

Romans 8:3‭-‬17‭, ‬28‭-‬39    -For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.  So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,  “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 


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Sin enslaves you because you do everything that it tells you. And at any point you can say no. But your ability to say no decreased over time. Because sin leads to pride and stubborness. In the end only Christ can take off those shackles like the possessed man legion. So the truth Christ sets you free. Is this out of love or hate?

-You are right to say that only Christ can take off those shackles. Your "free will" certainly can not. When Christs love overpowers our will, this is truly love. 


But what does a servant of God look like? 

-like a slave, because their is no distinction between slave and servant in greek. 

One who loves their neighbour as theirself and loves the Lord their God with all their heart and soul and mind. One who forgives others their sins. 
Is it a state of a slave those who have been forgiven their sins or entry into a relationship with the risen lord?
Was Thomas enslaved when God let him touch his side and see the wounds. He maintains his freedom throughout the whole process, because the truth of touching his side set him free.
Then he believed. God chose him. But he also chose God. This is synergy. 

- I would say that Thomas could not possibly not have touched the scars. It was Christs intention to give Thomas faith by making him see what he did not before. Just like Paul as he was blinded on the road to Damascus, Thomas did not choose to see what Christ has showed him. Nor did he have the capacity to doubt after he had seen. This is Monergism


Now for some metaphors.

-ok, but it makes me uncomfortable to move onto human reasoning without first leaning fully on the truths of God's word. 

What is more beautiful and rewarding for a master? A servant who chooses his master. And fulfills his will diligently and with love? 
Or a slave who does his will like a robot, the way he was designed to. 

-Or 3rd option, a slave to sin was freed from sin and death which he was completely powerless against, no amount of effort or free will could save him from sin and death, he was freed by a good master and adopted as a son by the good master, in order to serve the good master who is so good and beautiful that the newly adopted son can not help but submit as a slave to righteousness which is defined not by himself but by his master. 


What is the better master, one who gives his servant freedom to leave, and in doing so, lose his wages and inheritance. Or a master who does not allow his servant to leave reducing him to a slave, and not earning the servants love but organising it's placement in the person's soul. 
Master v1 shows that he gives all his servants freedom which expresses his desire that his servants be willing workers, everyone of them. 

-Or version 3, master who does not prevent his servant from leaving by force but rather overwhelms and lavishes the servant/slave with so much love that the child could not possibly choose another path. After all, the man who is most free, is the man who makes himself a slave to a perfect master. 

Would you rather a wife who did not know how to leave a relationship, or one who knew they could yet chose to love their husband and stay? One is marriage the other is slavery.

-Yes, i would rather a wife who did not know how to leave the relationship because she was so overwhelmed by the love i give her, that she never even consider leaving, even when things get tough, even when i tell her to do something she doesn't want to, and expect her full submission. This is not slavery, this is biblical marriage. 


What is heaven? And what brings God joy. A huge number of people in hell and a few in heaven? Is that glorifying God's justice or cruel tyrannical rule. 

- Again, we have to stick to what the bible says, Jesus said few, not me.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy   that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.   -Matthew 7:13‭-‬14

-and we can not talk back to God 

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”   -Romans 9:19‭-‬20


That is rather what the devil wants. What distinguished Satan from God, if both want there to be people locked up in eternal torture? Then God is coopoerating with Satan to keep people in the dark! What use does God have with a sinner?

-First of all, what distinguishes God from the devil is a lot, but Eternal hell fire is the wrath of God, satan may want it too, but i imagine he actually might not want it, unless he just wants to drag as many down with him as he can. Satan is a created angel who has fallen, he is nothing compared to God, and can almost not be compared at all. Satan must ask permission before doing anything, he is extremely handicapped. 

-Hell is the wrath of God:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. 10:28)

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (Rom. 1:18–19)

Matthew 25:31-46   -When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” . . . Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . .  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10   -This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (Hell is sepparation from eternal life with God, but it is at the same time in the presence of God's holy hatred forever, as it describes here, vengence)

Revelation 14:9-11   -If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

-Furthermore, Jesus was crusified under the wrath of God:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:10–11)


God wants the maximum number of people to be in heaven as possible. 

No, again, not biblical. 


And heaven is the marriage between God and man. 

-The Kingdom of heaven is the marriage between Christ and his Church, not God and all of mankind, lets keep it biblical. 


This is only possible if God gives a human free will, then offer all salvation, while the devil offers us hell disguised in temptation. 

- Hell is the wrath of God, so i don't think the devil is offering that.


His mercy is then glorified fully! Because every sinner has the free choice to become a saint receiving God's mercy. 

-No, im afraid that this would be Man glorified fully, not God. 


His justice is glorified fully because those who do not want to be forgiven will not be forgiven.

- No one wants to be forgiven, here are some verses that prove that point: 

Is man basically good or basically evil?
Ecclesiastes 7:29 - “See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
Romans 5:7-8 - For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:12,19 - sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners
c.f. Job 15:14-16, 25:4-6; Ecclesiastes 9:3

Are people good deep down?
Mark 7:21-23 - “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (c.f. Matthew 15:19)
Psalm 5:9 - For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.
Are men totally depraved? Is every faculty of the person corrupted?
Heart/Mind (Deceitful)
Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Titus 1:15-16 - to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Ecclesiastes 9:3 - Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Romans 1:28-31 - And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were… foolish
Ephesians 4:17-18 - you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.
Jeremiah 10:7-8,14 - among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. They are both stupid and foolish… Every man is stupid and without knowledge
Matthew 15:19 - “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (c.f. Mark 7:21-23)
Genesis 6:5 & 8:21 - The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… from his youth.
Proverbs 10:20 - the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
Proverbs 28:26 - Whoever trusts in his own [heart] is a fool
c.f. Deuteronomy 29:2-4; Psalm 10:4, 36:1-2, 58:4-5, 94:11; Proverbs 10:20; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26; Matthew 13:14; Mark 7:21-23; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 4:17-18, 23

Will/Choosing (Enslaved)
John 8:34 - Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”
2 Peter 2:19 - They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Titus 3:3 - For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
Galatians 4:8-9 - Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Romans 6:6,16,17,19,20 - We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey…? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed… For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Romans 7:14 - For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
2 Timothy 2:25-26 - God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
c.f. Isaiah 42:6-7; Psalm 51:12; John 8:31-32,36; 2 Corinthians 3:17

Affections/Desires (Perverted)
Romans 1:24-27 - Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Ephesians 2:3 - we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Proverbs 21:10 - The soul of the wicked desires evil
John 3:19 - And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
John 8:44 - “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.”
c.f. Genesis 3:16; Psalm 4:2, 52:3-4 140:8; Proverbs 10:23; 2 Timothy 3:2-4; 2 Peter 2:13

et al (Utter Ruin)
Titus 1:15-16 - to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
Isaiah 1:5-6 - The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.
Can men change themselves or still do good when they want to?
Jeremiah 13:23 - Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
1 Samuel 24:13 - “As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’”
Matthew 7:18 - “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” (c.f. Luke 6:43)
Matthew 12:34-35 - “How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”
Romans 8:7 - For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
Genesis 6:5 & 8:21 - The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… from youth.
Titus 1:15-16 - to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
c.f. Job 14:4; Matthew 12:34; John 15:5; Romans 14:23; Philippians 1:11; 1 John 5:18-19

Are men at least born pure? What about the “tabula rasa”?
Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Genesis 8:21 - the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
Psalm 58:3 - The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
John 3:6 - “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”
c.f. Proverbs 22:15

What is the natural disposition of man toward God?
John 3:20 - “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
Romans 8:7-8 - For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God
Colossians 1:21 - And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds
c.f. Romans 1:28-30; James 4:4

What is man’s relationship to God?
Psalm 58:3 - The wicked are estranged from the womb;
Ephesians 2:12-13 - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:3 - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
c.f. Isaiah 59:2

Can man then do anything to please God?
Proverbs 15:9 - The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord
Proverbs 15:8 - The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord (c.f. Proverbs 21:27)
Proverbs 28:9 - If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
Isaiah 64:6 - We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please [God]
Romans 8:7-8 - Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
c.f. Psalm 50:16; Proverbs 21:4; Isaiah 1:10-15; Amos 5:21-24

Are men at least seeking God?
Psalm 10:4 - In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
John 3:20 - “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
Isaiah 65:1 - “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
Isaiah 64:7 - There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
Romans 3:10-12 - “no one seeks for God.”
c.f. Romans 10:20

Can the natural man comprehend the gospel or come to saving knowledge of God on his own?
1 Corinthians 2:14 - The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 - our gospel is veiled… to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18,21-24 - For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles
Deuteronomy 29:2-4 - And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”
Matthew 11:27 - “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
c.f. Psalm 119:18; Proverbs 4:19; Isaiah 42:6-7; Hosea 14:9; Matthew 16:17; John 8:43; Acts 22:14, 26:18; Ephesians 4:17-19; 2 Corinthians 2:15-16; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; 1 John 5:20

Can men of themselves accept God’s gift of salvation? Do men choose God or come to Him on their own?
John 3:27 - John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”
John 14:16-17 - “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.”
John 1:12-13 - But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 6:44,65 - “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Romans 9:16 - So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Romans 11:35-36 - “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things.
1 Corinthians 1:30 - And because of him you are in Christ Jesus
Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
c.f. Jonah 2:9; Zephaniah 3:9; John 15:16; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Philippians 1:6; James 1:18

Who supplies faith/belief/repentance?
Acts 16:14 - One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
Acts 5:31 - “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 11:18 - When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Philippians 1:29 - For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should… believe in him
Acts 18:27 - When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed
Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Romans 12:3 - For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
2 Timothy 2:24-25 - And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, [etc.]… God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth
1 Corinthians 12:3 - no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:3 - His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence
Romans 11:36 - For from him and through him and to him are all things.
1 Corinthians 4:7 - For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
John 3:6, 6:63 - “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.”
c.f. 1 Chronicles 29:14; John 5:44; Acts 3:16; Romans 1:8, 12:3; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 6:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:2

Can men do anything to help themselves?
Colossians 2:13 - And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses
Ephesians 2:1-2, 4-5 - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved
c.f. Psalm 49:7-9; Jeremiah 2:22; Ezekiel 16:6, 37:1-3; Romans 5:6

Then what becomes of our boasting?
Romans 3:27 - It is excluded.
c.f. 1 Corinthians 1:28-29, 4:7; Ephesians 2:9-9


TULIP with Scriptures
T.U.L.I.P.

The Canons of Dort

The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in the Netherlands, known more simply as The Canons of Dort, was an official document written by the national synod of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. It was written in 1619, and represented the official response to another document, The Remonstrance, written in 1610 by the followers of Jacob Arminius. The writers of The Canons of Dort organized their arguments in five points, each corresponding to the five points set out in The Remonstrance. These five points have come to be known as The Five Points of Calvinism, or by the acronym T.U.L.I.P. These five points are:

In the outline below, both the Arminian and the Reformed positions are briefly stated. The Reformed position is then subdivided as necessary, and supported with scripture.

A. Arminian Position: Man is spiritually sick. Fallen man was seriously affected by the fall but he still has the ability to choose spiritual good. He determines his eternal destiny by either accepting or rejecting God's mercies.

B. Reformed Position: Man is spiritually dead. Because of the fall, man has become spiritually dead, blind and deaf to the things of God and is therefore unable of himself to choose spiritual good and determine his own destiny.

C. Scriptural Support for the Reformed Position

1. The fall has resulted in spiritual death to all men.

Gen.2:16 - Gen.2:17 (NKJ)

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Romans.5:12 - Romans.5:12 (NKJ)

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned

Eph.2:1 - Eph.2:3 (NKJ)

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Col.2:13 - Col.2:13 (NKJ)

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

2. Fallen man is now blind and deaf to spiritual truth.

Gen.6:5 - Gen.6:5 (NKJ)

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen.8:21 - Gen.8:21 (NKJ)

21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

Ecc.9:3 - Ecc.9:3 (NKJ)

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Jer.17:9 - Jer.17:9 (NKJ)

9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Mark.7:21 - Mark.7:23 (NKJ)

21 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,22 "thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.23 "All these evil things come from within and defile a man."

3.�Fallen man is now under the control of Satan and in bondage to sin

John.8:44 - John.8:44 (NKJ)

44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Eph.2:1 - Eph.2:2 (NKJ)

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience

2Tim.2:25 - 2Tim.2:26 (NKJ)

25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

1John.3:10 - 1John.3:10 (NKJ)

10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

1John.5:19 - 1John.5:19 (NKJ)

19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

Rom.6:20 - Rom.6:20 (NKJ)

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Titus.3:3 - Titus.3:3 (NKJ)

3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

4. Fallen man, left in his dead state, is totally unable to repent, to believe the gospel, or to come to Christ.

John.6:44 - John.6:44 (NKJ)

44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. [Note: The word here translated draws is translated as drags in other passages, such as John 21:11, Acts 21:30, and Acts 16:19.]

John.6:65 - John.6:65 (NKJ)

65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

Rom.3:9 - Rom.3:12 (NKJ)

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."

Rom.8:7 - Rom.8:8 (NKJ)

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

1Cor.2:14 - 1Cor.2:14 (NKJ)

14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

D. Key Quotations

1.�Westminster Confession of Faith� IX,3

Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.

A. Arminian Position: God's election is based on man's foreseen faith. Before the foundation of the world, God chose certain individuals for salvation based on His foreseeing that they would, of their own free will, choose Christ.

B. Reformed Position: God's election is unconditional. God's choice of certain individuals for salvation was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, but was based solely in His good and sovereign will.

C. Scriptural Support for the Reformed Position:

1. God has an elect people whom He has chosen to grant salvation.

Deut.10:14 - Deut.10:15 (NKJ)

14 "Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it.15"The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.

Matt.24:22 - Matt.24:24 (NKJ)

22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.23 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.24 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Matt.24:31 - Matt.24:31 (NKJ)

31 "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

John.6:37 - John.6:39 (NKJ)

37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

John.6:65 - John.6:65 (NKJ)

65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

John.17:9 - John.17:9 (NKJ)

9"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

Rom.8:28 - Rom.8:33 (NKJ)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

Rom.11:5 - Rom.11:5 (NKJ)

5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Eph.1:4 - Eph.1:5 (NKJ)

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Eph.1:11 - Eph.1:11 (NKJ)

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

1Thes.1:4 - 1Thes.1:5 (NKJ)

4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

1Thes.5:9 - 1Thes.5:9 (NKJ)

9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2Thes.2:13 - 2Thes.2:13 (NKJ)

13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,

1Pet.1:1 - 1Pet.1:2 (NKJ)

I Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

1Pet.2:8 - 1Pet.2:9 (NKJ)

8 and "A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

2.God's choice was not based upon any foreseen faith or good works.

Deut.7:6 - Deut.7:8 (NKJ)

6 "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.7 "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;8 "but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Rom.9:11 - Rom.9:13 (NKJ)

11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),12 it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."

Rom.9:16 - Rom.9:16 (NKJ)

16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

1Cor.1:27 - 1Cor.1:29 (NKJ)

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

2Tim.1:9 - 2Tim.1:9 (NKJ)

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

3. Faith and good works are the result, not the ground of predestination.

Acts.13:48 - Acts.13:48 (NKJ)

48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts.18:27 - Acts.18:27 (NKJ)

27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;

Eph.1:12 - Eph.1:12 (NKJ)

12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Eph.2:10 - Eph.2:10 (NKJ)

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Phil.1:29 - Phil.1:29 (NKJ)

29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

Phil.2:12 - Phil.2:13 (NKJ)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you 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 who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

1Thes.1:4 - 1Thes.1:5 (NKJ)

4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

2Thes.2:13 - 2Thes.2:14 (NKJ)

13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2Pet.1:5 - 2Pet.1:11 (NKJ)

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

4. The Biblical term foreknew (Rom. 8:29) means to forelove to set regard upon, to know with a particular interest, delight, affection or action, to foreordain.

Amos 3:2 - Amos 3:2 (NKJ)

2 "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."

Jer.1:5 - Jer.1:5 (NKJ)

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

Mat.7:22 - Mat.7:23 (NKJ)

22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

1Cor.8:3 - 1Cor.8:3 (NKJ)

3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

2Tim.2:19 - 2Tim.2:19 (NKJ)

19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

1Pet.1:20 - 1Pet.1:20 (NKJ)

20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

D. Key Quotations

1. Westminster Confession of Faith III,5

Those of mankind that are predestined to life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel of good pleasure of His will, has chosen, in Christ, to everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or Perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace.

A. Arminian Position: Christ's death was designed to make salvation possible for all people. Christ's death made salvation possible for everyone, but it did not actually secure or guarantee the salvation of anyone. Fallen man determines whether or not Christ's work will be effective by his faith.

B. Reformed Position: Christ's death was designed to actually secure the salvation of all of God's chosen people. Christ's death secured and actually accomplished the salvation of all of God's chosen people. God has determined that all for whom Christ sacrificed Himself will be saved.

C. Scriptural Support for the Reformed Position

1. Christ's death is set forth in scripture as that which ACTUALLY accomplished salvation, not that which merely made salvation possible.

Rom.5:8 - Rom.5:10 (NKJ)

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

2Cor.5:18 - 2Cor.5:19 (NKJ)

18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Eph.2:15 - Eph.2:16 (NKJ)

15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Col.1:21 - Col.1:22 (NKJ)

21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight

Gal.3:13 - Gal.3:13 (NKJ)

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),

Titus.2:14 - Titus.2:14 (NKJ)

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Heb.9:12 - Heb.9:12 (NKJ)

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Luke.19:10 - Luke.19:10 (NKJ)

10 "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

1Tim.1:15 - 1Tim.1:15 (NKJ)

15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

2. Jesus Christ was sent into the world to save the people whom the Father had given Him.

John.6:35 - John.6:40 (NKJ)

35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

John.10:11 - John.10:11 (NKJ)

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John.10:14 - John.10:18 (NKJ)

14 "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.15 "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.16 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

John.10:24 - John.10:29 (NKJ)

24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? 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, they bear witness of Me.26 "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father's hand.

Eph.1:3 - Eph.1:4 (NKJ)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Eph.1:7 - Eph.1:7 (NKJ)

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Eph.1:13 - Eph.1:13 (NKJ)

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

3.�Christ's sacrificial and intercessory work as high priest� is for those the Father had given Him, not for the world.

John.17:1 - John.17:11 (NKJ)

1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.4 "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.5 "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.7 "Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.8 "For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.10 "And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.11 "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

John.17:20 - John.17:20 (NKJ)

20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;

John.17:24 - John.17:26 (NKJ)

24 "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.25 "O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.26 "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Heb.2:17 - Heb.2:17 (NKJ)

17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Heb.3:1 - Heb.3:1 (NKJ)

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,

Heb.9:28 - Heb.9:28 (NKJ)

28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

4. Christ's saving work was intended to save a particular people.

Matt.1:21 - Matt.1:21 (NKJ)

21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

John.10:11 - John.10:11 (NKJ)

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John.10:15 - John.10:15 (NKJ)

15 "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

John.10:26 - John.10:26 (NKJ)

26 "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.

Acts.20:28 - Acts.20:28 (NKJ)

28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Eph.5:25 - Eph.5:27 (NKJ)

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Rom.8:32 - Rom.8:34 (NKJ)

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

John.15:13 - John.15:13 (NKJ)

13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

Matt.20:28 - Matt.20:28 (NKJ)

28 "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Matt.26:28 - Matt.26:28 (NKJ)

28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Heb.9:28 - Heb.9:28 (NKJ)

28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

5. Those for whom Christ died are an innumerable host from every tribe, tongue, people and nation in the world.

Rev.5:9 - Rev.5:9 (NKJ)

9 And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

John.3:16 - John.3:17 (NKJ)

16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John.4:42 - John.4:42 (NKJ)

42 Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

2Cor.5:19 - 2Cor.5:19 (NKJ)

19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

1John.2:1 - 1John.2:2 (NKJ)

1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

1John.4:14 - 1John.4:14 (NKJ)

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

Rom.5:18 - Rom.5:18 (NKJ)

18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

2Cor.5:14 - 2Cor.5:15 (NKJ)

14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

1Tim.2:4 - 1Tim.2:6 (NKJ)

4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

Heb.2:9 - Heb.2:9 (NKJ)

9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

2Pet.3:9 - 2Pet.3:9 (NKJ)

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Note: The Bible often uses the words all and world in a restricted, limited sense.

Luke.2:1 - Luke.2:2 (NKJ)

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

1Cor.6:12 - 1Cor.6:12 (NKJ)

12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1Cor.10:23 - 1Cor.10:23 (NKJ)

23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.

John.12:32 - John.12:32 (NKJ)

32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."

1Cor.15:22 - 1Cor.15:22 (NKJ)

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

D. Key Quotations

1. Westminster Confession of Faith III,6 & VIII,5

As God has appointed the elect to glory, so has He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called to faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power, through faith, to salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up to God, has fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father has given Him.

2. Dr. John Owen (Vice Chancellor - Oxford)

FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE?
The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for either:

1) All the sins of all men;

2) All the sins of some men; or

3) Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

1) If the last be true all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved;

2) That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth;

3) But if the first is the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!

3. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction for all men, or that all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this is that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do not. The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men? They say, "No, certainly not." We ask them the next question--Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer, "No." They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They say, "No, Christ has died that any man may be saved if"--and then follow certain conditions of salvation. Now who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why you. You say that Christ did not die so as infallibly to secure the salvation of anybody. We beg your pardon when you say we limit Christ's death; we say, "No my dear sir, it is you that do it." We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ's death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved.

A. Arminian Position: The Holy Spirit cannot regenerate fallen man until he believes. The Holy Spirit does all He can to bring every fallen man to salvation, but until fallen man responds in faith, of his own free will, the Spirit cannot give life. Faith preceded and makes possible the New Birth. Faith gives Life.

B. Reformed Position: The Holy Spirit regenerates every one of God's chosen people, enabling them to believe. The Holy Spirit graciously regenerates every one of God's chosen people, creating within them a new heart and enabling them to freely and willingly believe in Christ as Savior and Lord. The New Birth precedes and makes possible Saving Faith. Life gives Faith.

C.�Scriptural Support for the Reformed Position:

1. Every one whom the Father has chosen and for whom Christ died, will certainly experience the application of that salvation by the Holy Spirit.

John.6:37 - John.6:37 (NKJ)

37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

John 6:44 - John 6:44 (NKJ)

44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 10:16 - John 10:16 (NKJ)

16 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Rom.8:28 - Rom.8:30 (NKJ)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Rom.8:32 - Rom.8:32 (NKJ)

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

1Cor.6:11 - 1Cor.6:11 (NKJ)

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

1Cor.12:3 - 1Cor.12:3 (NKJ)

3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

2Cor.3:6- 2Cor.3:6 (NKJ)

6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2Cor.3:17 - 2Cor.3:18 (NKJ)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Eph.1:3 - Eph.1:4 (NKJ)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Eph.1:7 - Eph.1:7 (NKJ)

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Eph.1:13 - Eph.1:14 (NKJ)

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

1Pet.1:2 - 1Pet.1:2 (NKJ)

2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

2. Spiritual Regeneration is an inward change in man performed solely by the Holy Spirit and is not dependent upon man's help or cooperation.

A New Birth

John 1:12 - John 1:13 (NKJ)

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Rom.9:16 - Rom.9:16 (NKJ)

16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

John 3:3 - John 3:8 (NKJ)

3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

1Pet.1:3 - 1Pet.1:3 (NKJ)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pet.1:23 - 1Pet.1:23 (NKJ)

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

1John 5:4 - 1John 5:4 (NKJ)

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith.

Titus 3:5 - Titus 3:5 (NKJ)

5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

A New Heart

Deut.30:6 - Deut.30:6 (NKJ)

6 "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Ezek.36:26 - Ezek.36:27 (NKJ)

26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of 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 keep My judgments and do them.

A New Creation

2Cor.5:17 - 2Cor.5:18 (NKJ)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

Gal.6:15 - Gal.6:15 (NKJ)

15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

Eph.2:10 - Eph.2:10 (NKJ)

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

A Resurrection

Jn.5:21 - Jn.5:21 (NKJ)

21 "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

Jn.11:14, 15, 25, 38-44 (NKJ)

14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.15 "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.42 "And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

Eph.2:1 - Eph.2:1 (NKJ)

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

Eph.2:5 - Eph.2:5 (NKJ)

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Col.2:13 - Col.2:13 (NKJ)

13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

A Gift

Jn.17:2 - Jn.17:2 (NKJ)

2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

1Cor.4:7 - 1Cor.4:7 (NKJ)

7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

Eph.2:8 - Eph.2:9 (NKJ)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

3. Repentance and Faith are divine gifts which are the result, not the cause, of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

Acts.5:31 - Acts.5:31 (NKJ)

31 "Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

Acts.11:18 - Acts.11:18 (NKJ)

18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."

Acts.13:48 - Acts.13:48 (NKJ)

48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts.16:14 - Acts.16:14 (NKJ)

14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

Acts.18:27 - Acts.18:27 (NKJ)

27 And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;

Eph.2:8 - Eph.2:9 (NKJ)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Phil.1:29 - Phil.1:29 (NKJ)

29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

2Tim.2:25 - 2Tim.2:26 (NKJ)

25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

D.�Key Quotations

1. Westminster Confession of Faith X, 1,2

All those whom God has predestined to life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving to them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being made alive and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.

2. Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 31

What is effectual calling? Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

A. Arminian Position: All who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation.Sinners can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, by falling into a state of serious sin, etc.

B. Antinomian Position: (Also known as "Easy Believism") All who make a profession of faith are eternally secure, whether or not they keep up their faith.

C. Reformed Position: All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in Faith by the Power of Almighty God and therefore continue to persevere in faith.

D. Scriptural Support for the Reformed Position:

1.The person who truly believes in Jesus Christ HAS new Life that is ETERNAL.

Jn.3:16 - Jn.3:16 (NKJ)

16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jn.3:36 - Jn.3:36 (NKJ)

36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Jn.5:24 - Jn.5:24 (NKJ)

24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Jn.6:47 - Jn.6:47 (NKJ)

47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

Jn.6:51 - Jn.6:51 (NKJ)

51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Jn.11.25 - Jn.11.25 (NKJ)

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

1Jn.5:13 - 1Jn.5:13 (NKJ)

13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1Peter.1:23 - 1Peter.1:23 (NKJ)

23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

2. All those who come to genuine saving faith in Christ are kept secure in him for eternity by the Power of God.

John.6:35 - John.6:40 (NKJ)

35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

Jn.10:27 - Jn.10:30 (NKJ)

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone 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 My Father's hand.30 "I and My Father are one."

Jn.17:11 - Jn.17:12 (NKJ)

11 "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Jn.17:15 - Jn.17:15 (NKJ)

15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

Rom.8:29 - Rom.8:30 (NKJ)

29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Rom.8:35 - Rom.8:39 (NKJ)

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1Cor.1:8 - 1Cor.1:8 (NKJ)

8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph.1:5 - Eph.1:5 (NKJ)

5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Eph.1:13 - Eph.1:14 (NKJ)

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Eph.4:30 - Eph.4:30 (NKJ)

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Phil.1:6 - Phil.1:6 (NKJ)

6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

1Peter.1:3 - 1Peter.1:5 (NKJ)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

3. True believers WILL persevere to the end in faith and obedience by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Jn.14:21 - Jn.14:21 (NKJ)

21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

Jn.15:1 - Jn.15:11 (NKJ)

1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

Eph.2:10 - Eph.2:10 (NKJ)

10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

1Peter.5:10 - 1Peter.5:10 (NKJ)

10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

2Peter.1:10 - 2Peter.1:10 (NKJ)

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

Phil.2:12 - Phil.2:13 (NKJ)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you 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 who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Phil.3:12 - Phil.3:15 (NKJ)

12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

1Jn.3:9 - 1Jn.3:9 (NKJ)

9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

1Jn.5:18 - 1Jn.5:18 (NKJ)

18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

Heb.5:11 - Heb.6:12 (NKJ)

11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.3 And this we will do if God permits.4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;8 but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

1Jn.2:19 - 1Jn.2:19 (NKJ)

19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

1Jn.2:25 - 1Jn.2:25 (NKJ)

25 And this is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life.

E. Key Quotations

1. Westminster Confession of Faith XVII, 1

They whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.