This is yet another selection of out of context verses. One can come up with all manner of creative views by taking verses and phrases out of context, but that doesn't necessarily provide support for a viewpoint. For a theory to have support, the various parts of it need to a) retain their meaning when the verses are examined in their scriptural, historical, and literary context and b) be the only logical reading or at least a very strong reading with little likelihood of an alternate rendering and c) fit harmoniously in with other scriptures and not contradict.
So let's go through this latest list:
The context of Rom 9 is very clearly about the people of Israel (Rom 9:3-5) and the children of the promise (believers, including the many Gentile believers.) This passage in particular is not making points about our spirits housed in fallen flesh - there are other passages that deal with our earthly bodies.
"What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?" Rom 9:22 - [These vessels are the Jews living at the time of Christ who rejected the Messiah, and whom God hardened after they hardened themselves against Him (Matt 13:14-15) and led to Jesus' crucifixion]
"What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—
even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” Rom 9"23-25
Is there any question about who the objects of mercy are? No! Paul states it explicitly: Gentile believers of his era who had become part of God's people and called by His name.
In context, Isa 64:6 is not saying that people are incapable of anything good - quite the opposite. Rather, it's showing how their sins have placed them under judgement.
"You come to the help of those
who gladly do right, who remember your ways.
But
when we continued to sin against them, you were angry.
How then can we be saved?" Isa 64:5
The verse just prior to #6 shows humans are capable of doing right and remembering God's ways. However, they fall short - continuously sinning against them. They can't 'do enough right' to be saved when they keep falling.
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Isa 64:6
They *can* commit some righteous acts, as the verse describes, but they are like filthy rags and uncleanliness in the face of their many sins. The righteous acts cannot save them.
"No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins." Isa 64:7 - This isn't saying the Israelites never called on God's name or never sought Him. Rather, it shows that in anger God hid his face from them due to their sins, and the majority of Israel was poetically just fine with continuing to ignore God. Obviously not everyone, as Isaiah himself is calling out to God!
"Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people."
Here, Isaiah shows that God, as potter, has the power to relent from His anger and no longer hide His face. While God would be just to leave the Israelites hardened in their sin, Isaiah appeals to God's power and mercy to soften His people.
Again, context: The whole verse states, "For we have already made the charge that
Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God." It clearly is not speaking of individual acts that might be good or bad, but of no one being perfectly righteous. It is speaking of the general masses of humanity not understanding the way of salvation nor are they even seeking a way to be saved (the gospel hasn't spread to the world yet!)
Further context: This is a quote from Psalm 14. In Psalm 14, it is fools and evildoers who are unrighteous, and they are contrasted with God's people and shown to be oppressors of God's people and the poor. It concludes with, "Oh,
that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!" By quoting this psalm, Paul is showing that salvation has indeed come out of Israel. It is time for the Lord to restore His people (which as described in scripture are those children of the promise who believe in Christ, not those of physical Israel who reject Christ.)
That is - we don't have to cover our sins by being righteous, Christ was perfectly righteous so that His blood might cover our sins!
- We didn't have to understand, God revealed Himself to us and appointed Apostles to spread the word
- We didn't have to seek and find God, Jesus came to us and sought us
Paul in this chapter is a believer, and speaking of the struggles between his earthly flesh and His mind as subject now to Christ. He's not claiming he can't do anything good, or that his flesh couldn't potentially do something right (he mentions his faultless keeping of the law in Phil 3:6, for example) - but that the flesh is corrupt. It doesn't house anything merit worthy of itself.
This argument makes little sense. Just because Adam and Eve *could* have obeyed after the fall doesn't mean they couldn't have *disobeyed." They already had disobeyed by eating the fruit, but Adam had also obeyed God in other areas such as naming the animals, showing they had some capacity both for following and rebelling. Furthermore, God never told them not to eat of the Tree of Life. The fact we will eat from it in Heaven shows that eating from it is not a sin. He didn't kick them out lest Adam 'disobey' and eat the fruit. He kicked them out lest Adam have *access* to the fruit.
This completely misrepresents how we are born again and what faith is. We don't 'will' ourselves by heaven by faith. Rather, we acknowledge that God is the one with the power to give us new birth, and eventually new spiritual bodies, that we may live with Him in His kingdom. God gives believers the Holy Spirit as a down payment of the promise that *He* will one day give us new spiritual temples to dwell in.
This is a strawman argument and mischaracterization. Faith is in every way contrary to boasting, and faith in every way gives glory to God. So why would the belief that we need to believe in our hearts and confess that Jesus is Lord, actively taking the gift of salvation which Jesus provided and God freely offers, somehow magnify our own glory or make us proud? That's a logical inconsistency. Admitting powerlessness is not a sign you want power. Humbling oneself is not a sign of arrogance. Submitting to Jesus as Lord and savior is opposed to seeking one's own glory.
[Question: What does it mean in Rom 3:27 that boasting is excluded because of the law that requires faith?
See Answer:
What does it mean in Rom 3:27 that boasting is excluded because of the law that requires faith?]
