Didn't you mean to post "yes that is exactly right because without the drawing there is no opportunity for the gospel - and as the text says - God draws ALL not merely some".??
No, I meant what I posted and you need to consider what I posted as posted. Without God drawing there is NO gospel opportunity.
So the gospel is not open to all as is claimed in this op. The gospel is opened to those God draws. Yes, God draws all but His drawing is the predicate condition for the gospel, not an "openness" as was incorrectly claimed, but a causal condition without which no sinful non-believer would be open to the gospel.
The claim the op makes is incorrect. Arminianism is not an open system and Arminius did not teach it as such. In other words, you don't have Arminiainism correctly understood and you don't have Calvinism correctly understood. I'll get to the erroneous comments made about Calvinism later. Right now the claim made about Arminian volitional openness is incorrect and you yourself have posted at least to arguments against your own claims.
That is not me 'assuming' that is me "reading" John 12:32.
No, it is you reading
into John 12:32. The verse does not state what you say it says.
Let's take a look at that verse in its context of John 6 - the drawing is for salvation.
You are going to have to be specific because the words, "salvation," save," nor "saved," appear anywhere in John chapter 6. If you're referencing John 6:44 then I have already addressed that verse: God draws all men to Himself through Christ but not all are drawn in salvation. Most are drawn to condemnation (Jn 3:18), judgment (Jn. 3:18, 16:11), and destruction (Mt. 10:28, Acts 3:23).
Jesus paid the redemption price for all to be saved but the cross is an intersection point between eternal life
and destruction, Bob; not salvation alone. You're looking at only one half of the truth of Calvary. According to the gospel, "
God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. (Rom. 2:16)."
Look it up.
The cross is a dangerous place for most. It is only the regenerate believer who need not fear Calvary.
And you are not going to be able to discuss the merits of any soteriology until you correctly understand the duality of Christ, his suffering, and death and resurrection. Arminius and Calvin are irrelevant to these truths and these truths bear down on all soteriologies in like manner.
Then in John 12... salvation context: "blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD"
Man, you have got to learn how to parse scripture correctly. John 12:13 and John 12:32 are not spoken by the same person! The two verses are not spoken to the same audience! The two verses are not spoken on the same matter. Verse 13 is spoken by the crowd surrounding Jesus and the Passover lambs' entrance into Jerusalem just days before his unjust sacrificial murder. They are oblivious to the fact he's the Lamb of God who is going to be dead by week's end as they incorrectly imagine him to take the monarchy from Herod and chase out all of Imperial Rome's occupation. Verse 32 is spoken by Jesus to His Father in heaven. Yes, Jesus is referencing Numbers 21 and Isaiah 11, and yes both references are foreshadowings of salvation but what does the gospel writer say in the very next verse of chapter 12?
John 12:33
"He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die."
He'll draw all men to himself in
death. He'll draw all men to him in
crucixion. So to fully understand what he is saying we should definitely look
backwards to the OT references to which Jesus is alluding but we should also look forward to what the NT writers tell us about Jesus' death, his being lifted up, and his crucifixion. Surely 1 Cor. 1:23 is relevant,
1 Cor. 1:23
"...we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness..."
The cross is a stumbling block and foolishness, not only salvation as you have claimed. Note what Paul also states,
1 Cor. 1:23-24
"...we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
It is only those who are
the called, not simply or solely those called. The verse does not say,
"those who are called,"
it states,
"those who are
the called."
Most English translations leave out the "the," but if you
examine the Greek you will see the "the" is there. All may be called, but not all are the called. Many are called but few are chosen.
The gospel is not an open system.
Salvation is the context.
The
evidence says otherwise.
What the evidence shows is a propensity for eisegesis, not exegesis. As a consequence very little of the op is correct and when asked about it the errors become
proven by your own efforts to justify the claims made. I know this is frustrating for you, Bob, so I again remind you this is not personal. You've claelry put a lot of study and effort into forming this op. However, it does not appear you were as critical of the Arminian sources as you are of the Calvinist and certainly not as critical of the Arminian sources as you are of what I have posted.
There's simply no way you should have missed the
inherent differences between John 12:13 and John 12:32. Shoddy exegesis.
So...
I have shown the gospel is not an open system in the Bible.
I have shown the gospel is not an open system in Arminianism.
The efforts to refute that evidence ended up proving what I posted correct.
And along the way several errors in your exegesis have been revealed.
And I haven't bothered to mention a single word about Calvin's soteriology. I have not once appealed to Calvinism, nor used it as a comparative measure once. What I've posted about this op used scripture as written, plainly read and/or properly exegeted.
1) Identify the writer and his audience.
2) Read a given verse in the context of its surrounding text; do not proof-text.
3) Read the text in the context of whole scripture.
4) Read scripture as written unless there's something in the passage giving reason to do otherwise.
5) First use scripture to interpret scripture.
6) Don't apply conditions applicable to Jews to atheists.
7) Don't apply conditions applicable only to the already-regenerate believer to the unregenerate atheist.
Those are just a few of the basics. If you practice those exegetical precepts you'll see for yourself this op warrants many corrections.
