Quiz: Are you Calvinist or Arminian?

JesusFreak78

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Here is a list of verses from the four Gospels supporting the five points of Calvinism that I posted to my blog. The reaction from anti-Calvinists has been foaming at the mouth, lacking in any humility whatsoever:

I'm aware of the insults, lies, misrepresentations, and emotionally responds from Arminians, but that doesn't mean we should reply back in the same manner.

I have also seen rude responses from Calvinists, which shouldn't be happening either. We all make mistakes from time to time, which is important to remember when someone we disagree with does the same.
 
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Humble_Disciple

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If saving faith is entirely a gift of the Holy Spirit, irrespective of our free-willed efforts to believe or disbelieve, as Augustine, Luther and Calvin taught, then those who deny it are blaspheming the Holy Spirit, committing the unpardonable sin.

Anti-Calvinists should be sure, then, that the Bible rejects irresistible (enabling, efficacious) grace before they reject it too.

The Holy Spirit will work in the lives of the elect so that they inevitably will come to faith in Christ. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit never fails to bring to salvation those sinners whom He personally calls to Christ (John 6:37-40)...

Another misconception concerning this doctrine is that it teaches the Holy Spirit cannot be resisted at all. Yet, again, that is not what the doctrine teaches because that is not what the Bible teaches. God’s grace can be resisted, and the Holy Spirit’s influence can be resisted even by one of the elect. However, what the doctrine does correctly recognize is that the Holy Spirit can overcome all such resistance and that He will draw the elect with an irresistible grace that makes them want to come to God and helps them to understand the gospel so they can and will believe it.
Irresistible Grace - is it biblical? | GotQuestions.org
 
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Humble_Disciple

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ViaCrucis

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As a Lutheran, I think the chief critique of Calvinism is that it places far too much emphasis on "God's Sovereignty" and therefore falls into the same basic mistake that so many other theological systems do: It ends up being about glory rather than the cross.

Luther in his Heidelberg Disputation provides us with the basis of the Evangelical Reformation: The contrast between theology (or theologies) of glory which focus on the invisible things of God (his power, wisdom, etc), rather than placing the focus on the external visible things of God, namely the suffering and death of Jesus Christ our Lord.

This results in the opinio legis, the Opinion of the Law, it places our works up front and puts God's grace on the back burner. Calvinism tries hard to resist this, I'll admit that; but it does so at the expense of the Gospel itself.

The Gospel isn't that God sovereignly chose me before the world began; the Gospel is Jesus Christ, His death, resurrection, and all that God richly pours out upon me, and indeed the whole world unconditionally. Christ died for you, He died for me, He died for the tyrant who goes to his grave breathing curses against God and man.

The Gospel is that we receive all good from the over-abundant generosity of God who loves the world and has set forth His intention to save it.

Our election is not about God picking and choosing who will or will not be saved. Our election is that God has chosen us in Christ, by His love for us poured out on the cross and which takes hold of us through God's Word and Sacraments. Therefore I can say Baptizatus Sum, I am baptized--and in that phrase I boldly declare that God by His free and unconditional grace has chosen me--because the claim of God is on me in baptism. It is in this way that we do not choose God, but God has chosen us.

We therefore do not locate our election and God's predestination in some kind of sovereign act of a dispassionate Godhead; we locate our election in God's visible, external, objective works and word: What He has done in and through Jesus, what He accomplishes for us by His grace: In His Word and Sacraments in which God accomplishes His purpose and work in our lives. To give us faith, regenerate us, to adopt us as His own children and heirs in Christ by the power of the Spirit.

The Lutheran can therefore have confidence before God of his salvation, because Jesus died, Jesus rose, we are baptized, we have the Lord's Supper, and the word is preached in which we hear God Himself, in Jesus--for we know God no where else except in His Incarnate Son. We do not meet the hidden, invisible God, as the Apostle reminds us, He dwells in "unapproachable light". It is only through Jesus, the "one mediator between God and man" that we encounter God as "Our Father who art in heaven". As our Lord Himself says, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father" and "If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well". We know the Father of our Lord Jesus because we have met the Son; for it is the will of the Father to be known through His Eternal and Only-Begotten Son (begotten before all ages, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one and the same Being with the Father)

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Humble_Disciple

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If unconditional election is true, then salvation is entirely the gift of God's grace from beginning to end. (Romans 9:11-13; Romans 9:16; Romans 10:20; 1 Corinthians 1:27-29; 2 Timothy 1:9)

How are we, as Christians, called, predestined, justified, sanctified and glorified? (Romans 8:30, 1 Corinthians 6:11)
Entirely by the work of God's grace, so that we have nothing to boast about. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

This should result in profound feelings of love and gratitude, so that we will seek to joyfully obey God the rest of our lives. (Ephesians 2:10, 2 Peter 1:10)

Unconditional election - is it biblical? | GotQuestions.org

What is Calvinism and is it biblical?

“Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus.” - John Calvin

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Humble_Disciple

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We have gone through a pandemic in which over 600,000 Americans have died. We need assurance of salvation now more than ever before.

Other than its support in the Bible, assurance of salvation is why I find Calvinism important. Because of unconditional election and irresistible grace, we can have assurance that God will preserve His saints.

Without the second and fourth points of Calvinism, we cannot have assurance of the fifth. This is why I've done my best to clarify what these doctrines actually mean, as well as their Biblical basis.

When you have the assurance of salvation that Calvinism provides, you can go on to humbly serve the Lord in love and gratitude, no matter what happens in life.

What is Calvinism and is it biblical?

Did the Early Church Believe the Doctrines of Grace?

This is from Martin Luther’s 97 Theses, almost twenty years before John Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion:

29. The best and infallible preparation for grace and the sole disposition toward grace is the eternal election and predestination of God.
30. On the part of man, however, nothing precedes grace except indisposition and even rebellion against grace.
The 97 Theses | Union Resources

It’s only called “Calvinism” because John Calvin popularized the doctrines of grace, he did not originate them. It’s the same doctrines that Augustine taught against Pelagius and Luther taught against Rome.
 
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ViaCrucis

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We have gone through a pandemic in which over 600,000 Americans have died. We need assurance of salvation now more than ever before.

Other than its support in the Bible, assurance of salvation is why I find Calvinism important. Because of unconditional election and irresistible grace, we can have assurance that God will preserve His saints.

Without the second and fourth points of Calvinism, we cannot have assurance of the fifth. This is why I've done my best to clarify what these doctrines actually mean, as well as their Biblical basis.

When you have the assurance of salvation that Calvinism provides, you can go on to humbly serve the Lord in love and gratitude, no matter what happens in life.

What is Calvinism and is it biblical?

Did the Early Church Believe the Doctrines of Grace?

This is from Martin Luther’s 97 Theses, almost twenty years before John Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion:



It’s only called “Calvinism” because John Calvin popularized the doctrines of grace, he did not originate them. It’s the same doctrines that Augustine taught against Pelagius and Luther taught against Rome.

What Luther meant by predestination and election are not exactly the same thing as what Calvinism means by these.

Predestination does not mean that God chose us but not others. Predestination means that God chose us. Full stop.

I can point to my baptism as the infallible and indelible work and word of God by which I can know God chose me, predestined me, elected me to salvation in Christ.

God predestines us to salvation.
God does not predestine anyone to damnation.

Lutherans embrace the Crux Theologorum.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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The Liturgist

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You know, I recently raised this point, but surely wouldn’t it be fairer to call the quiz Calvinist or Non-Calvinist, since the specific theology of Arminius is that of the Remonstrants, a breakaway from the Dutch Reformed Church which dates from Arminius and still has a few thousand members in Europe? Because while Wesley was obviously not a Calvinist, was he really properly Arminian? Surely there are nuances to the theology of Arminius which apply or applied to the Remonstrant church but not to Methodists, some Anglicans, Lutherans, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the non-Calvinist Baptists, the Evangelical movement, the Moravians and the Assyrians?
 
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Humble_Disciple

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If you are an Arminian who loves Jesus, that’s awesome. As the slogan of the Reformation goes, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

1 Corinthians 8:2-3
Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.
 
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setst777

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First we should find out if the word “world” means every single person in the world, or if it means every nation, tribe, and ethnicity. When we consider verses like Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5, and Romans 9:13, the word “world” in John 3:16 cannot mean every single person on the planet, otherwise we would have a contradiction.

"World" means "world."

Lord Jesus came to call sinners, not the righteous (Luke 5:32).

Psalms 5:5 and Psalms 11:5 teaches us that God is against those who are arrogant and wicked. However, all people are, at some point arrogant and wicked. So, no contradiction, since Lord Jesus is calling to the arrogant and wicked to repent and turn to Him for salvation because of the Gospel.

"Romans 9:13" does not mean God forms some people to love, and other people to hate, for that would make God the author of sin. Rather, God knows things before they happen, and chose Jacob over Esau on that bases.

How to you explain John 1:13 where it explains people are born by the will of God and not man?

"John 1:13" teaches us that God's will is to indwell by His Spirit, and give life inside those, who believe in His Son.

We cannot tell where the Spirit goes and who the Spirit will give life to, but we do know the Spirit searches the hearts, and the will of the Spirit is to indwell the true believers in Jesus to give them eternal life.

This believing is a continuous action in which the believer drinks (continuously) of the Spirit, who indwells them by faith.

So as a person believes (continuous) and drinks (continuous) the Spirit indwells the believer to give them Spiritual Life.

The Spirit only indwells a believer AFTER they hear the word of the Gospel in the New Covenant and believe.

John 7:37-39 (WEB)
37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! (continuous) 38 He who believes (continuous) in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.

John 4:13-14 (WEB)
13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks (continuous) of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

So the one who “believes” or “drinks” is the one who receives the Spirit. The Spirit, who indwells the one who continually believes/drinks, gives him a new birth - eternal life.

The life of God in the Spirit is dependent on our believing in Lord Jesus, and continuing to believe.

The New Birth only occurs AFTER Lord Jesus was resurrected through the Gospel Word.

1 Peter 1:3-4 (WEB) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you

This new birth only occurs in the New Covenant by the Word about Lord Jesus after Lord Jesus was resurrected and glorified:

1 Peter 1:23 (NIV) 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

James 1:18 (WEB) 18 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

The Born again experience by the indwelling Spirit only occurs in the New Covenant, after Lord Jesus was resurrected and glorified by believing in the Gospel Word that is preached.

John 7:38-39 (WEB) 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.

Only in the New Covenant did the regeneration begin:

Hebrews 8:6-12 (WEB)
6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, he said,
Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart."
"I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.
” [Jeremiah 31:31-34]
 
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Humble_Disciple

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I believe I've made pretty much every Biblical and historical argument for Calvinism on this forum that one can possibly make.

As Jesus would say, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." My only intention has been to counter anti-Calvinist prejudice, that we are heretics rather than lovers of the Bible and Jesus Christ.
 
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setst777

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You know, I recently raised this point, but surely wouldn’t it be fairer to call the quiz Calvinist or Non-Calvinist, since the specific theology of Arminius is that of the Remonstrants, a breakaway from the Dutch Reformed Church which dates from Arminius and still has a few thousand members in Europe? Because while Wesley was obviously not a Calvinist, was he really properly Arminian? Surely there are nuances to the theology of Arminius which apply or applied to the Remonstrant church but not to Methodists, some Anglicans, Lutherans, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the non-Calvinist Baptists, the Evangelical movement, the Moravians and the Assyrians?

I am thinking the titles "Calvinism" an "Arminian" are used as basic categories.

For instance,

We have Calvinism, but related beliefs include Thomism and Augustinian.

We have Arminian, but related beliefs include Molinism and Wesleyan.

And then we have the Provisionist (traditionalist), a term coined by the Reformed Baptist Dr. Leighton Flowers that basically holds to the Calvinist doctrine, but with one major difference:

Provisionism grants that God graciously gives all people the free will to choose whether to believe or reject/refuse the gracious gift of salvation.
 
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setst777

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Jesus would often say, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Matthew 11:15, Matthew 13:9, Matthew 13:43, Mark 4:9, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:35

How does one receive the spiritual ears to hear the Gospel and respond to it? The answer is God's irresistible (enabling) grace:

Those who have ears to hear are those who are humble, and so willing to listen to, and learn from, God.

Psalms 25:9 (WEB) 8 Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. 9 He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.

Isaiah 66:2 (WEB) For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

Irresistible grace doesn't mean that God's elect will never rebel against or resist God's grace, but that God's grace is powerful enough to overcome the elect's rebellion, transform their wills and desires, and lead them to ultimate salvation.

No Scripture teaches this; rather, the New Testament is filled with warnings, admonitions, commands, and urgings to remain firm in the faith, living holy lives before God, to be saved. For instance:

Romans 11:20-22 (WEB) 20 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, IF you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

Hebrews 3:13-15 (WEB)
13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, 15 while it is said,
Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” [Psalm 95:7-8]

Hebrews 12:25 (WEB) See that you (the Christians for whom the letter was written) do not refuse him who speaks. For if they (those OT Israelites) did not escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we (the Christians for whom the letter was written) not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven

Hebrews 10:35-38 (WEB)
35 Therefore do not throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. 36 For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise

1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (WEB)
10 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
5 However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent that,
we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” [Exodus 32:6]
8 Let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9 Let us not test Christ, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents. 10 Do not grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

To fall is to be lost

Hebrews 4:11 (WEB)
11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that Rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:1 (WEB)
Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his Rest.

1 Timothy 4:1 (WEB) 1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

1 Timothy 4:16 (WEB)
16 Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Romans 8:16 (WEB) 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 6:9 (WEB) 9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we do not give up.

Ephesians 4:5-7 (WEB)
5 Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (WEB) 3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who do not know God, 6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.

1 Timothy 4:1 (WEB) 1 But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons

1 Timothy 6:10-12 (WEB)
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 (WEB)
18 that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share; 19 laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

1 Timothy 6:20-21 (WEB) 20 Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge, 21 which some profess, and thus have wandered from the faith.

2 Timothy 2:16-21 (WEB) 16 But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness, 17 and those words will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some. 19 However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” 20 Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor. 21 If anyone therefore purges himself from these (unrighteousness), he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master’s use, prepared for every good work.

Hebrews 12:14-17 (WEB)
14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15 looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it, 16 lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17 For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.

Hebrews 10:26-30 (WEB) 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.29 How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the Blood of The Covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of Grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. [Deuteronomy 32:35] Again, “The Lord will judge HIS people.” [Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalms 135:14]

Matthew 3:9 beautifully illustrates the doctrine of irresistible grace. If God can raise up children of Abraham from stones, then He can unfailingly turn the hearts of His elect ones from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.

This Scripture only states that God is able to do this, not that this is God’s plan to do this, otherwise God would have turned stones into children of Abraham.

God's gracious will is to save whosever will believe in His Son through the Gospel Invitation. Many refuse, but those who believe (continuous) are saved.

Calvinism isn't some awful, scary thing. It's only called "Calvinism" because John Calvin popularized the doctrines of grace, he did not originate them. It's the same doctrines that Augustine taught against Pelagius and Luther taught against Rome.

Calvinism is scary, because it easily could lead to laxity regarding ones being watchful, sober, and vigilant to remain firm and steadfast in the faith against all temptations, and so forfeit their eternal salvation.

This is true because Calvinism teaches that it’s all God’s work, so if you believe in Jesus and you believe God guarantees your salvation, then chances are you will feel no need to be vigilant to overcome.

Luke 9:23-25 (WEB) 23 He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

Luke 21:34-36 (WEB)
34 “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly. 35 For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth. 36 Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

1 John 2:15-17 (WEB) 15 Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s. 17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.
 
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Unconditional Election

Matthew 11:27

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Answer: Who Lord Jesus chooses to reveal the Father is no mystery. Through Lord Jesus’ ministry, we see that Lord Jesus chooses to reveal the Father to the humble.

Psalm 25:8-10 (WEB)
8 Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. 9 He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way. 10 All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth, to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Matthew 11:28 (WEB)
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

Luke 4:18-19 (WEB) 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (humble, spiritually crushed). He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” [Isaiah 61:1-2]

Matthew 22:14

For many are called, but few are chosen.

Answer: The Gospel calls all people, inviting them to receive the salvation God offers. The ones chosen are those who have placed a Gospel Faith in Lord Jesus.

Not everyone who accepts the Gospel invitation will be chosen, because many will come to the feast without the proper faith (the correct wedding garments – Matthew 22:11-13).

Matthew 22:11-13 (WEB) 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’

The proper wedding garments represent a Gospel Faith in Lord Jesus demonstrated by hearing and following Lord Jesus, faithful to observe all things He commands of us (Matthew 28:19-20; John 15:8-10).

Revelation 3:1-5 (WEB) 1 I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you.4 Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Matthew 24:22-31
22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
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.

Answer: The elect are those who believe, demonstrated by enduring in the faith. Lord Jesus places the responsibility to endure in the faith upon each person. No guarantee is made by Lord Jesus, or any of the Apostolic Writers, that those who believe would remain faithful to the end; rather, just the opposite.

Matthew 24:11-13 (WEB) Speaking to His followers
11 Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. 12 Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Luke 21:19 (WEB) 19 “By your endurance you will win your lives.

IF God does not cut short the days of anti-Christ’s rule, the believers will be wiped off the face of the earth.

Luke 18:7
And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

Answer: True.

John 6:64-65
64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
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.”

Answer: The only ones who may come to the Son and be saved are those who are humble and crushed in spirit. That is how God designed the Gospel, for God promised salvation to the humble.

Luke 4:18-19 (WEB) 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (humble, spiritually crushed). He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 19 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” [Isaiah 61:1-2]

John 8:47
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

Answer: True. To hear means to listen. Those who are of God will listen to God.

John 13:18
I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

John 15:16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

Answer: Lord Jesus chose His Disciples, including the one who would betray Him, based on foreknowledge. IF God created or formed Judas to sin and betray Lord Jesus, then God would be the author of sin and the evil by which His Son was crucified. That would make the Father the actual betrayer of Jesus, not Judas.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Answer: We only receive life through faith in Lord Jesus, John 3:16.

John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Answer: That is true; however, the will of God is to give to the Son those who believe in His Son. No mystery here as to whom God the Father wills to give to the Son. God elects to give to the Son those who believe.

John 6:40 (WEB) 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

continued

John 17:2

2 Since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

6 I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

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.


Answer: The will of God is to give to the Son those who believe in Him. That is the whole point of the gospel. Do not make this more complicated then what God plainly reveals.


John 6:40 (WEB) 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”


Matthew 26:24

24 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.


Answer: This shows that each person is responsible for his own actions before God.
 
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setst777

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Limited Atonement (Definite Atonement, Particular Redemption)

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

Answer: Lord Jesus initial mission was to save Israel – God’s chosen people. However, after the Gospel of God’s grace was preached to the Jews, God also made Lord Jesus to be a light to the Gentiles as well.

Isaiah 49:6 (WEB)
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, so that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”

Matthew 26:28
28 For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Answer: In context, the ones who believe appropriate the blood of the Covenant to themselves, however the ransom was made available to all.

God grants repentance to all but the choice is still ours to repent. Why?
  • The ransom was paid for all, not some (1 Timothy 2:6),
  • God desires all to be saved, not some (1 Timothy 2:3-4),
  • God’s intention is to have mercy on all, not some (Romans 11:32).
  • We appropriate that gracious gift of salvation to ourselves by faith (John 3:16)
  • Many will resist the Spirit and Word and be lost (Matthew 22:8-9; Acts 7:51-52)
  • Of those who do believe, many will fall away (Matthew 24:10; 1 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 3:12).
Luke 1:68
68 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people

Answer: True. God’s people are those who remain in Lord Jesus by faith demonstrated by keeping His commands.

John 15:9-10 (WEB)
9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain (abide) in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain (abide) in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain (abide) in his love.

John 10:11-26
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep

Answer: The Lord’s sheep are identified as those who believe demonstrated by hearing and following Him.

John 10:26-29 (WEB) 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

The ones who do not believe are identified by Lord Jesus as not being the sheep the Father gave Him (compare vs. 26, vs. 29).

Only the sheep who believe (vs. 26) – synonymous with those who to hear and follow Him (vs. 27) – are guaranteed eternal life (vs. 28), which are the sheep that the Father gives to the Son (vs. 29)

John 11:49-50
49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”
51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

Answer: This is true.

We are children of God, and children of light, by faith in Lord Jesus.

John 12:36 (WEB) 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.”

Galatians 3:26 (WEB) For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Does that mean we are born of the Spirit as children of God by faith? Yes.

Galatians 4:6 (WEB) And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”

John 7:39 (WEB) 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.

John 15:13
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends

Lord Jesus gave us an example to follow as the sign of true unselfish love. The friends of Lord Jesus are all those who keep His words and do them.

John 15:12-14 (WEB) 12 My commandment is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends IF you do what I command.

John 17:9
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

Answer: The Father gives to the Son all those believing in Him. That is the will of God.

John 6:40 (WEB) 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

continued
 
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Irresistible (Enabling, Efficacious) Grace

Matthew 3:9
9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones.

Answer: IF God’s plan of salvation was to raise up children of Abraham from the stones, He would have done so, but that is not the Gospel. The Gospel declares that whosoever believes has eternal life.

Matthew 19:25-26
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Answer: The 12 disciples gave up everything to follow Lord Jesus because they believed in Him, and this was before the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

By faith, God makes all things possible.

Matthew 17:20 (WEB)
He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Luke 24:16-45
16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
45 And He opened up their minds, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

Answer: These were faithful followers of Lord Jesus before their eyes were restrained. God restrained their eyes for a reason, but these disciples were already believing before their eyes were restrained and later opened.

John 1:12-13
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.

Answer: We are born of God by the Spirit living in us, and we only receive the Spirit by faith.

John 7:37-39 (WEB)
37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! (continuous) 38 He who believes (continuous) in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.

John 3:8
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.

By faith we receive Spiritual life from death.

John 5:24 (WEB) 24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life

How are we born of God? Those who believe are born of God, passing from death to life, after hearing the Gospel Word, just as Lord Jesus explained in response to Nicodemus’ question:

How can this be?” John 3:9

Lord Jesus reply to Nicodemus explains how we are born again - which is the eternal life of God:

John 3:14-18 (WEB) 14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:27
27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.

Answer: John said this, knowing that Lord Jesus is the Son of God and so worthy to receive from God that which is His. Even so, all that we have, even our lives, is because God has given, or granted, this to mankind, and that includes our being created in the image of God, able to make choices that we are all responsible for.

John 5:21-25
21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

Answer: Those who hear are those who died believing in Lord Jesus (John 3:16).

John 11:24-26 (WEB) – In reference to Lazarus
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 6:37-63
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws (Greek helkó, “to drag”) him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Answer: That Scripture does not say:

‘No one can come to the Son unless the Father irresistibly draws him by means of regeneration by the Holy Spirit.’

You will not find one Scripture in the entire Bible that teaches that God mysteriously elects and irresistibly draws anyone to believe and be saved.

All through the New Testament, the “drawing” is through the Gospel Word and the Spirit.

The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), and is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), and able to accomplish God’s purpose (Isaiah 55:11).

John 16:8 (WEB) 8 When he (the Holy Spirit) has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment...

God’s purpose is determined by God revealing His purpose to us. God’s purpose for the Gospel Word is to save whosoever believes (John 3:16).

The Word and the conviction of the Spirit is how God invites us to receive the salvation He offers.

Many will resist and refuse the drawing and illuminating of the Word and Spirit, or will fall away at a future time, just as the Scriptures teach throughout.

Matthew 22:3 (WEB)
3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they refused to come.

John 3:18 (WEB) 18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 (WEB)
10 They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

Romans 10:21 (WEB) 21 21 But about Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary (obstinate) people.” [Isaiah 65:2]

Acts 7:51-52 (WEB)
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit!

John 10:16
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.

Answer: The “other sheep” are the Gentiles.

John 14:16-26
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Answer: That began at Pentecost when the believers were gathered in the Upper Room waiting for the pouring out of the Spirit by which they would be regenerated by the Spirit through faith (Titus 3:4-6).

John 15:26
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

Answer: True

John 16:8-14
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Answer: The Spirit came to convict the world of sin, but many will refuse.

To those who believe, the Spirit will guide and teach and lead as the believer continues to believe demonstrated by walking by the Spirit who indwells Him by faith.

Romans 8:12-14 (NIV) Writing to the Church in Rome
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation — but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but IF by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Galatians 6:7-9 (WEB) Written to the Christian Church of Galatia
7 Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we do not give up.

continued
 
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Preservation/Perseverance of the Saints

Matthew 6:13
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.

God promises to deliver all those who believe demonstrated by obedience to Lord Jesus.

John 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain (abide) in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain (abide) in his love.

Matthew 10:22
And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Answer: No guarantee is made that the believer will endure; rather, those who do endure will be saved.

Matthew 18:12-14
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?
13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Answer: God is merciful. For God’s part, He will search for those who wander off. However, God’s grace has limits, and those who deliberately sin against Him have rejected their God, even though claiming to believe in Him. God disowns them. We are only adopted children of God by faith (Galatians 3:26) demonstrated by obedience (Romans 1:5).

If a believer falls from the faith by deliberate sin or being deceived, the person is no longer in the faith, and so, no longer of the children of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (WEB)
3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who do not know God, 6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. 7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit.

Mark 16:16
16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Answer:Whosoever believes” is a continuous believing. To believe is not a one-time action. Those who remain in the faith are eternally saved, and so will not be condemned. The Scriptures offer no guarantee that you will remain faithful to the end.

Luke 22:32
32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren

Answer: Lord Jesus prayed for Peter knowing that His prayer to the Father would lead to Peter’s repentance, Prayer will not guarantee the faith of anyone, but through prayer, God will mercifully reach out to that person.

Lord Jesus never guarantees our faith, but rather, He continually warns the believers to remain faithful to be eternally saved.

Revelation 3:21 (WEB) 21 He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Luke 21:34-36 (WEB)
34 “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly. 35 For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth. 36 Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

John 4:14
14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Answer: Whoever drinks (continuous drinking), the Spirit will indwell to give them eternal life inside them.

John 5:24
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.

Answer: Those who hear and believes (continuous believing) has eternal life – has passed from death into life. So a person is not given life from death by regeneration so they can believe; rather, just the opposite. Only those who believe pass from death to life.

John 6:35-47
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.
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.
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Answer: All who believe in the Son are given by the Father to the Son. The one who believe receives eternal life. That is the Gospel.

John 6:40 (WEB)
40 This is the will of the one who sent me; that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 17:12
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.

Answer: Lord Jesus kept them the ones God the Father gave Him. God the Father gave to the Son those who believe in Him.

Judas believed too, demonstrated by giving up everything to follow Lord Jesus but, just as prophesied, Judas was tempted by Satan and fell.

John 18:8-9
8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.”
9 This happened so that the words the had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

Answer: This is a prophecy that the 12 disciples would not be killed along with Lord Jesus. God spared them at that time. Even so, most of the Apostles were later martyred as also prophesied by Lord Jesus.

Blessings
 
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If unconditional election is true, then salvation is entirely the gift of God's grace from beginning to end.

Romans 9:11-13 (WEB)
11 For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, 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 elder will serve the younger.” [Genesis 25:23] 13 Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” [Malachi 1:2-3]

Answer: The purpose of God is founded on God’s foreknowledge. IF you disagree, you must prove from Scripture that actually teaches that those God elected were those God created or formed for that purpose, rather than God knowing beforehand.

Romans 9:16 (WEB) 6 But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel.

Answer: The true Israelites are those of faith.

Galatians 3:7-8 (WEB) 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.

Galatians 3:26 (WEB) 26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith

Romans 10:20 (WEB) 20 Isaiah is very bold and says, “I was found by those who didn’t seek me. I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.” [Isaiah 65:1]

Answer: This Passage is teaching about those of the Gentiles who would listen and believe.

Acts 28:28 (WEB) 28 “Be it known therefore to you, that the salvation of God is sent to the nations, and they will listen.”

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (WEB) 27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, 29 that no flesh should boast before God.

Answer: God chose that the humble and simple would believe the Gospel, not that God irresistibly causes them to believe by regeneration, unless you can prove that is the case by Scripture.

IF God has to hide the message of the Gospel from the minds of the proud, that means no regeneration is required to believe, since it requires a supernatural hiding of the Gospel message to those who are proud so they cannot believe.

Luke 10:21 (WEB)
21 In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, O 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 so it was well-pleasing in your sight.”

2 Timothy 1:9 (WEB) 9 who 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 times eternal

Answer: The holy calling is the Gospel Invitation, which is God’s gracious provision for all people.
  • All are called by the Gospel, but only those who believe are elected.
  • We cannot earn salvation by works.
  • God freely gives the gracious gift of salvation to those who believe in His Son (John 3:16).
How are we, as Christians, called, predestined, justified, sanctified and glorified? (Romans 8:30)

Answer: All God's gracious Plans and promises are the possession of those who love God, being called by the Gospel.

Romans 8:28-31 (WEB) 28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

1 Corinthians 6:11 (WEB) 11 Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.

We are washed from all sins as we walk in the light by faith in Lord Jesus:

1 John 1:7 (WEB) But if we (believers) walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

We are sanctified by faith in Lord Jesus

Acts 26:18 (WEB) 18 …they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

We are justified by faith.

Romans 5:1-2 (WEB) Being therefore justified by faith

Entirely by the work of God's grace, so that we have nothing to boast about. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

By grace we are saved through faith

Ephesians 2:8-9 (WEB) 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, that no one would boast.

Romans 5:1-2 (WEB) Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 2 through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

This should result in profound feelings of love and gratitude, so that we will seek to joyfully obey God the rest of our lives.

Answer: Not only love and gratitude but, as faithful followers of Lord Jesus, it is our responsibility before God to walk in the works God prepared for us to do to be in a saving relationship with God.

Ephesians 2:10 (WEB) 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

2 Peter 1:10-11 (WEB) 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For IF you do these things, you will never stumble. 11 For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
 
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