Reformationist
Non nobis domine sed tuo nomine da gloriam
frumanchu said:We simply acknowledge rightly that without the work of the Spirit it literally falls on deaf ears.
Amen my brother!!
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frumanchu said:We simply acknowledge rightly that without the work of the Spirit it literally falls on deaf ears.
This is a common, though completely inaccurate, misunderstanding of "unconditional election." The truth of the doctrine is that "men are born sinners, God must judge sin, God chooses a certain number of elect to be saved on the basis of no conditions found in us and justice is served on those the Lord has not chosen to save."
There are conditions for being one of the elect. One must be a being, obviously. One must be fallen, obviously. One must be chosen according to the good pleasure of God (Eph 1:5; Rom 9:11).
Absolutely not. Those who are condemned are condemned because they sin. They receive justice. Those who receive mercy are the objects of God's non-justice. No one, I repeat no one, is the object of unjustness from God.
We cannot blame God for the sinful choices of fallen man. Regardless of fallen man's inherent disposition towards God he [fallen man] still makes those sinful choices freely [uncoerced]. God does not keep anyone from choosing righteously, not even the non-elect. The fact that they freely choose to make sinful choices instead of righteous ones does not cast a shadow of unrighteousness on God. He does not work fresh evil into their hearts. He does not need to. They are sufficiently evil, as are we all, that if God removes His restraining grace, which He benevolently gives to all mankind, they fall even deeper into the quagmire of their sinfulness, as was the case with Pharaoh. This idea of equal ultimacy is unbiblical at best. When one grasps the biblical understanding that fallen man naturally considers God their enemy and flees from His righteousness in rebellion and the only thing that changes that disposition is the regenerative work of God Himself, which He is in no way obligated to perform, then we will have an accurate understanding of man's responsibility to obey the Law of God and God's responsibility to be Holy and, thus, punish that unrighteousness.
Absolutely false Received. By your own admission we cannot know the motive for another's actions. That being so, the very best we can do is determine if that action outwardly complies with the standard of good, God's Law. If someone helps an old lady get across the street safely we may make the assumption that the deed is a good one. Unlike us, God sees not only the action but the motive. If the motive for the action was recognition then the action is not righteous. So, our ability to judge the righteousness of helping the lady across the street is limited insofar as our ability to judge the motive for said action is limited. God is not limited in this way.
Ask a sadist if those actions are wrong. I'm sure you'd get a different opinion. Again, just because you can personally assign a level of moral depravity to an action isn't what makes something "frankly wrong." It is the standard of good that determines whether an action is right or wrong.
Let me clarify that each of us have some determining line of morality and can, according to our own conscience, determine whether something is bad or good. Let me also emphatically state that fallen man's ability to recognize their own fallen opinion of "good" is NOT what inclines his heart to God. It is the regenerative work of God Himself that changes our will and inclines us toward Himself (Phil 2:13).
If by this you mean to say that that which we seek in faith must have first taken hold of the core of our being, our seat of reason, our heart (not the muscle), then I would wholeheartedly agree. If, however, you are implying that faith is the result of reasoning through Scripture then I would wholeheartedly disagree. The things of the Spirit are foolishness to the fallen man. You cannot reason your way into accepting the Truth of God. If that were possible then successful evangelists would be nothing more than masters of persuasion. Reasonable understanding and, thus, believing in the Gospel is the product of being born again through the work of the God, not the successful interpretation of Scripture.
I don't follow. In what way? I concede that there are differences. In fact, the Bible speaks of the different Wills of God, i.e., the sovereignly decreed Will (that by which all things that come to pass actually come to pass), the permissive Will of God (His Law), and His benevolent Will. I'm not sure exactly what you're alluding to so I can't really say yes or no.
Neat little scenario. I certainly hope this was not supposed to parallel the process of salvation. If so, you start off with a premise that contradicts your own theology. Your words, "I certainly agree that man's will is depraved so as to, left to itself, have no desire whatsoever to please, or seek, God." Yet here you start off with a completely different inherent disposition: "a day comes when cures (redemption) are offered at the place of his residence, and upon hearing this he runs with a sense of euphoria to accept this free offer (reconciliation)."
No where in the Word is obedience requested. No where in the Word is salvation offered. Obedience is demanded. Salvation is given.
Where??!!! Please!!! I'd love to hear the verses that say God treats all people the same or that God loves all people (omnibenevolence). It's absolutely unfounded and, on top of that, I can point out numerous examples in which God reveals Himself differently to different people: Jacob and Esau, Moses and Pharaoh, Paul and Pilate, etc. You start out with a theological strawman. God is omnibenevolent in the sense that He endures "with much longsuffering" the sinfulness of man, but He is not omnibenevolent in the sense that all of His actions are purposed to reveal His love to the object of His actions. God is omnibenevolent in the sense that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that doesn't mean that God doesn't see the necessity in the righteous passing of His judgment upon the sinfulness of the wicked.
The only way this line of reasoning you seem to be entertaining can work is to create a theology based on the belief that we are not held accountable for the sinfulness of Adam. We are. The Bible is explicit about that. All, in Adam, fell from grace. Adam was God's righteous, perfect choice to represent all of created mankind.
Well, that answers my question. I guess you just don't hold the view that Adam was picked by God as a moral representative for all created mankind. Either that or you flat out can't acknowledge that it was righteous for God to appoint our representative. You say, "We do not know if anyone would have chosen differently." Well Received, I'd have to say that I disagree. If there is even the remotest possibility that someone, anyone, would have chosen differently then we are calling the holiness of God into question. I'd rather just know that I'd have chosen exactly as Adam chose and thank God for the provision of salvation that He wasn't obligated to give. And, as I said, when you start questioning the justness of the imputation of Adam's disobedience then you are forced into a position where you must also say that it is unjust for Christ to die for your sins when He was not guilty. I do not personally feel the need to question the justness of my Creator for the imputation of Adam's sinfulness or the imputation of Christ's righteousness. I'll just thank Him for His holy and righteous providence, in both matters.
Why is it shaky? Is God under some obligation to redeem someone just because He is their Creator? Where is grace then? If we impose some sort of relationship that places God's grace on the level of debt then we destroy the very foundation of grace. Where does it stop? If God is obliged to regenerate all mankind then is God also required to give each person the same measure of grace in the outworking of the faith that He originally graced them with?
Unless you're talking about children, which is a whole different topic, then I believe you would find it impossible to find someone who has not earned the justice of condemnation by their own actions.
Additionally, you seem to be operating under the unbiblical assumption that because God created all things created He is also obliged to treat all created things, at least all men, the exact same. I ask, as Paul asked, who are we to question the righteousness of God in His sovereign decisions?
True, had God not created some with no intention of saving them they would not suffer for all eternity. But, the flip side of that is true as well. Had God not created those He does redeem they would not have enjoyed His grace as they will. God is the Creator.
Would it be unrighteous for you to bring something into existence and then destroy it?
We are His creation to do with as He pleases. The merciful side to this is that what God pleases to do is righteous. It seems as if you are struggling with the prideful notion that God is being unfair unless He gives us all an equal chance. To that I'd have to ask, chance at what, salvation? Where are we given the authority to say that "fair" is defined by our own fallen notions. To be honest, if God were "fair" then all would perish. The fact that He deems it pleasing to save some doesn't make Him unjust for not saving all. It makes Him merciful to those He does save.
Two things. First, fallen man is not incapable of responding to the Word of God in obedience. He just chooses not to because to his carnal mind the things of God are folly.
They earn death by their transgression.
There are many that I'm sure never heard the Word of God. Does their ignorance of the specific revelation of God through His Word mean that they don't sin? Aren't you conceding for that very thing, that we have a law in our own minds and to go against that law is sin?
Reformationist said:How does God know who will and who won't accept Him? This seems an awful lot like an Arminian response to the sovereign providence of God. Does God look at all of mankind and those that will "accept" Him of their own free will apart from His sovereign intercession are those whom He "assures have the chance to receive His message?" And what of those people? Do any of those people ever not accept Him? This theory crumbles when you consider all the people that have, in fact, heard the Gospel, had the chance to receive His message in their hearts, and not been converted. Alot of people who receive the Gospel reject it so the belief that God only makes sure that those He knows will accept Him hear the Gospel is biblically unfounded. It is not the preaching of the Gospel that changes men's hearts. It is the sovereign work of God in that He uses the preaching of the Gospel to convert His sheep.
Tell me, what is it that makes one person who hears the Gospel accept it and another reject it? Is one smarter than another? Is one more righteous than another? What does one person accept the Gospel and another doesn't?
frumanchu said:I think the underlying premise which causes error here is equating morals with ethics. Ethics are objective and fixed...they are the 'ought-ness' in a situation. Morals are a matter of majority opinion (even when the majority is the whole of the race)...they are the 'is-ness' in a situation. An example would be homosexuality. Ethically (Biblically) it is wrong. Morally, it has become more and more acceptible. Your arguments seem to be appealing to man's common morality rather than a Biblical ethic.
Also, the Calvinist view is not that they are 'blamed for existing.' They are justly condemnable for their own sin, which is a manifestation of the sin nature that is inherited from Adam. If you doubt the inherent sinfulness of humanity, you must not have children because I can tell you as the father of three children under the age of five that they are absolutely fallen creatures. I didn't have to teach my children to lie, cheat, steal or otherwise...they did it quite on their own. To deny that man is justly deserving of condemnation is to ignore loads of Scripture to the contrary and to argue for an intrinsic worth such as to compel and obligate God to provide a means of salvaging man while at the same time binding His hands against seeing it through. In essence, you are denying God the unfettered and autonomous free will that is being given to mankind. The argument seems to be one of causality, but the only cause being discussed is the instrumental cause of our justification (choice/faith) and not the formal, efficient or final causes.
Let me first say that your insight into the judgement of those mentioned is on the right track, although still viewed from the 'wrong side of the fence.' Consider Ananias and Saphira in Acts5. Many Arminians argue for this as one proof against perseverance, but your insight above, albeit misapplied to the Asyrians, does show how such judgement can actually be an expression of love. Indeed, He chastens whom He loves, even unto death. However, this application does not apply similarly in the case of the Asyrians because they were not believers. If we apply that standard across the whole of Scripture, particularly the OT, then we have to account for how it was loving for God to direct His people to kill children and babies, dashing their heads on the rocks. Hardly loving it it?
It seems that the verse you quoted is being magnified in the sense that not only is God love, but He is only love or is love to the extent that all His other divine attributes can be and are foresaken. We tend to exalt God's love/mercy/grace above His other attributes often because deep down we know that it's only by these attributes that we have any hope at all. We can't get very far by broadening God's justice, wrath, jealousy, etc.
The basic knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong is instilled in us, but without the desire to adhere to them (which unregenerate man does not have) the conscience can become seared and ineffective to the point of our continued rationalization of things we know are wrong. Clearly not all can agree on what is right and what is wrong, and that is not because truth is subjective, but because we have alterior motives.
Actually you have made an excellent case for the irresistable grace of God. Such truth is ultimately spiritually discerned, not mentally or logically. Bertrand Russell and many others 'reasoned away' God, while many others demonstrated logically and soundly God's existence and nature. Your mind will not believe what your heart does not desire. Our will is merely a slave to our desire. We are born with a desire for self. All that we do is either to seek pleasure or avoid pain (which is really a subset of the first). The change in man at regeneration is going from an overarching desire to seek our own pleasure to one that seeks to please God.
Every government and ruler in this world, from Hitler to Stalin to Churchill to Reagan, was ordained as such by God and placed there according to His purpose. I think you're giving man credit where credit is due to God.
Clearly our sense of justice is open to interpretation, and though our system in the West is more stable than many more 'primitive' systems in other parts of the world, it is still inconsistent and imperfect. One need only examine the Supreme Court over the last century to see it. Countries in Africa uphold a deplorable manner of justice by which men of a different ethnic background or faith are 'justly' executed. It is by God's providence and purpose that the world escapes
absolute anarchy and anihilation. And indeed, it is most often the presence of His Kingdom in the Body of His Son that preserves it. We are called the salt of the Earth for a reason
This analogy does not accurately represent the Calvinist position. For starters, sin is not only a nature but an action. The Word does not tell us we are sick in our transgressions. We are dead. We do NOTHING truly good. I think your three proposals for explanations are correct, and that the third is in fact the case (assuming we run with your analogy for a moment). I do take issue with your definition of omnibenevolence because you seem to define it as God does everything good He possibly can for all people. Where do you derive that? Indeed God shows a measure of His grace to all men by means of their very continued existence. The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
It really does boil down to an issue of sovereignty...whether or not the Potter truly has the right to do with the clay as He chooses.
How can we at the same time not be IN Adam but be IN Christ? Indeed, we are not condemned for Adam's sin but for our own. However man's nature was changed with that original sin. While we're at it, why don't we protest to God that we're forced to work and that our women are forced to endure labor pains because of what Adam did? Why should we no longer be in communion with God because of something Adam and Eve did? Why don't the children have access to the Garden because of their parents? Apparently God is supposed to be limited in how much He can dispense His justice.
That is so blatantly unscriptural and illogical it almost angers me. If all that's threatened for our sinful indulgence is a momentary chastening, why on Earth would I put forth the effort to be perfect even as He is perfect if I only have to endure momentary pain for a lifetime of pleasure?
Received said:God, as we all know, is very likely beyond our meticulous philosophies
But men sin because that is their very nature -- as calvinist John MacArthur once said, men are not sinners because they sin; they sin because they are sinners.
My point is that God brings the spirit of man into being with this in mind; and this idea added to the idea that men are blamed for doing something they cannot help, plus the fact that God knows from eternity past that He will certainly not save a great amount, seems absurd.
God creates men who are under the disease of Adam, and through such men have no choice in the matter;
He then eventually subjects them to eternal torment, blaming them on a basis they could by no means keep. This is the absurd part, from my comprehension. God is blaming men for His own act of bringing them into existence. This is not just.
From what I perceive scripture to teach, choosing not to be 'in sin' (I do not juxtapose this with acts of sin; to act in sin is to do something you know to be wrong; to be 'in sin' is to be in that realm where faith has not yet touched; it is a condition of the soul) when one is indeed in sin is unbiblical. Romans 14:23 states that whatever is not from faith is sin; sin is the opposite of faith. And faith, we know, comes by hearing. In essence, a broken machine is blamed for not working as one that is in good condition. We cannot choose our beliefs; that is, we cannot will what we will hold our faith to. Only through understanding can this arise; belief follows.
A man who violently injures his arm on a hiking trip may be presented with one solution: amputation of the limb, or else infection will spread throughout the rest of his body. Now, the act of cutting off one's arm is, in itself, evil; if we were to go about doing this to bewildered innocents, we would be placed in jail. But this act combined with the justification of after-effects -- saving the man's life -- is, in the end, good. This is all I am meaning here when I say that the benevolence of an action must be judged by its ends.
But a sadist is a man of psychological corruption.
A man without God will hold fast to justice but never practice the very thing he preaches; a man in accordance with His will does precisely the opposite. By stating that which is 'good', I am only stating that which is just, as well as other things, regardless of man's depravity, such as the natural loves, for example.
As stated above, in order to have faith, you must believe; and belief is not in our power to will alone -- it must be based on understanding; and understanding, reason. The mind -- sans emotion -- is what we preach to, as well as the soul.
The mind is the soul of all understanding. Even the will is at the mercy of such an entity.
My point was that the law of God -- i.e., that which is based on God's unchanging, perfect nature -- is different than specific willings of God, which, as we all know, are relative to conditions.
By stating this I am hoping to allude to the fact that God's actions are based on goodness (i.e. His law); goodness is not based on His actions.
the benevolence of an action must be judged by its ends.
With such an apprehension, justice -- that which depraved man and God hold in common -- is the goodness by which we measure actions. The idea of claming that God does X, thus X is justified holds no water, for an action cannot supersede our understanding of justice.
Of course, if God loves all, then response is the option by which man is given in accordance with God's universal attempt to save, and Hell becomes a place for those who will have nothing of God;
My only point in this allegory was that it seems utterly absurd that God would have the capacity to save all, but refuses.
But Reformationist, for obedience to be demanded of a group that needs a cure unable to be found by their own power is absolutely atrocious.
The idea of God being love does it for me;
Election may by based on foreknowledge. To claim otherwise is, as I state sentences later in the passage you quoted, unjust, for God is willfully bringing into existence the one which He will blame for having a disease he by no means had a choice in.
Quoting out of context, as you have done, is the only strawman here.
This is the meat of the argument. Are we really held accountable for Adam's sin? Or are we merely held accountable for our own sins, apart from the act of Adam? How can you sin apart from being 'in sin'? By committing actions you know to be wrong. Jesus blamed the adulterous woman and the Pharisees, among others, for committing acts they knew to be wrong: adultery and pride. Does any New Testament author blame the sinful nature of man on man himself, rather than Adam? It seems not to me.
Received said:I am only calling the doctrine that God creates men in this state and gives them no attempt to live unjust.
We are not questioning God, Reformationist; we are questioning our very perception of Him, otherwise known as doctrine. I am absolutely sure He does not mind our questioning His acts on the basis that we could better understand His righteousness. Would you not agree?
You speak of God being 'obliged' to save men, yet this doesn't seem to fit well with me; I am not obliged to the love of my neighbor -- I am loved without extrinsic basis: for the sake of love itself, and for the sake of my very being.
God saves men because He loves men; if He loves a handful, He is contradictory to the justice He holds dear, for He creates men He knows He will allow into Hell, without any choice of hope in regards to the created.
Herein lies the paradox.
An object of material substance, certainly not (though, don't ask me how I avoided the first law of thermodynamics); a child made in my very likeness, absolutely.
Fairness is tantamount to justice here
Also, nowhere do I read our rationality being depraved in scripture; only our hearts, and this is only so because of our broken souls.
You say 'chooses'; with this in mind, is it possible for men to attain salvation by their own choice of accepting God's sacrifice?
If not, how can you say he has a choice to follow God?
This is clearly where we disagree; I believe that men emit transgression as the result of their spiritual death in relation to God; they are not spiritually dead in relation to God because they have transgressed: this was ultimately the work of Adam. You cannot get any further away from the absolute nonexistence of faith, as faith is the opposite of sin (Romans 14:23).
I follow the old fashioned Hobbesian understanding of guilt and law: that men can only be held accountable if there is a law they know exists prohibiting them to commit such an action.
Received said:"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil." -- John 3:19 (NASB)
Received said:Or a man who emits charity on the basis of sympathy; is this man not doing a good action?
My definition of omnibenevolence comes from the simple fact that God is love, rather than a God who loves. Theologians who have attempted to explain away this reference only end in miserable tautologies.
My other point is that my story was meant to be combined with the idea of God creating men He knows will never have a choice to find cure for the disease that they had no choice over. Apart from it, I was hoping to reveal how absurd it is for a person with the capacity to save men chooses willfully not to do so, regardless of their being made in His image (James 3:9).
God has a right as far as righteousness is concerned; He cannot commit evils. I am quite frankly in the dark as to how it is justified that He could continously create men into this world knowing He will never have a desire to save them. 'Because God is God' is not an answer; justice is desired in itself.
Indeed, as you say, man's nature is changed because of original sin. He sins because he is a sinner. With this in mind, how is it righteous for God to create a human being struck with the same disease as the remainder of mankind and only desire to save a handful, and ultimately blame the remainder, casting them into an eternal hell? I also do not understand how we are not condemned for Adam's sin? Men are born spiritually dead from birth; this is condemnation, and nothing more.
I would hope it is for the sake of choosing goodness because it is good. If your motivation to follow Christ is a get-out-of-hell free card, and nothing more, where is your basis of love? The kingdom of God is now, not after death. Do you think the very idea of a darkened soul does not cry out for redemption, in this very lifetime?
Reformationist said:Well, that answers my question. I guess you just don't hold the view that Adam was picked by God as a moral representative for all created mankind. Either that or you flat out can't acknowledge that it was righteous for God to appoint our representative. You say, "We do not know if anyone would have chosen differently." Well Received, I'd have to say that I disagree. If there is even the remotest possibility that someone, anyone, would have chosen differently then we are calling the holiness of God into question. I'd rather just know that I'd have chosen exactly as Adam chose and thank God for the provision of salvation that He wasn't obligated to give. And, as I said, when you start questioning the justness of the imputation of Adam's disobedience then you are forced into a position where you must also say that it is unjust for Christ to die for your sins when He was not guilty. I do not personally feel the need to question the justness of my Creator for the imputation of Adam's sinfulness or the imputation of Christ's righteousness. I'll just thank Him for His holy and righteous providence, in both matters.
God bless
nobdysfool said:I'm picking just one thing in your post to discuss, that of Adam being a "moral representative" for all mankind. I don't hold that view. I think it has some problems, in that it does not answer exactly why all mankind became sinners.
If you say it was by imputation, on what grounds? Because we are human too? That would not be enough of a reason.
Because God decreed it? Then God would be unjust, because He just decided that we were to be born sinners through no fault of our own.
I believe we were all literally "in" Adam when he sinned. Genetically, at least, that can be proven. And possibly it is a genetic thing as much as a spiritual thing.
In scripture, Adam and Christ are contrasted and compared, the First Adam and the Last Adam. "As in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive." This is key. This is an exact parallel.
God sees man as either "in Adam", or "in Christ".
Well, God seems to look at it as though we were there when Adam sinned, and I cited a scripture that indicates that as far as God was concerned, Levi paid tithes in Abraham to Melchizedec, stating that Levi was in Abrahams loins when Abraham did so. The clear inference is that Levi was counted as having done so as well, even though he was not yet born.Reformationist said:Okay.
Then, as a believer, what are the grounds for Christ taking upon Himself your sins? Were you "in Christ" when He lived a life of perfect obedience and died a righteous death? Why was Christ imputed with your, and all other believers, myriad of sins? There is a theory, I just read about it in Chosen by God, R. C. Sproul but I can't seem to remember what it is, that the reason we are culpable for the sins of Adam is that we were spiritually present with him and actually committed the first human act of transgression right along with Adam. Sort of a "pre-existant existance." In that theory we merited the imputation of Adam's transgression because we committed that transgression right along with him. As far as the imputation of Adam's fallen nature I would have reiterate my original question. Unless you believe that we actually committed that act of transgression right along with Adam and are thus personally morally accountable then I'd have to ask what the basis for your justification would be. If it is unjust of God to sovereignly impose a punishment upon the descendants of Adam for Adam's personal sin then, by that reasoning, wouldn't it be unjust of God to impose a punishment upon Christ for your sins and equally as unjust to impose upon you the mercy that Christ merited on your behalf?
The reason you wrestle with it is because the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you it's wrong. The whole idea of representation is wrong. I'm giving you a scriptural view. It is our primeval existence in Adam which makes us sinners with his sin. All of Adam's reproductive seed possessed no individuality or separate humanity while inside him. Since it was inside Adam when he sinned, it participated in Adam's act of disobedience along with every other cell within Adam's body. All those who issue from that primeval substance (Adam's seed) share in Adam's sin, imputation, and its consequences.Here's the "no fault of our own" thing again that I seem to be failing to understand. We are not guilty of the sin of Adam because we personally committed it but because God sovereignly appointed Adam as our moral representative. The only way that I can see to deny this is deny that Adam was a righteous choice to represent us. It seems as if many Christians believe they would have chosen differently. Don't you see the inherent judgment on God in that belief? If anyone, and I mean any person who ever existed aside from Christ, would have chosen differently then God arbitrarily or capriciously appointed our representative and blamed us for his failings. I just don't personally see that as a possibility.
Not quite. We were primevally existant in Adam when he sinned, and as such share the results of his sin, the imputation of his sin, and its consequences. You could actually say that Adam's sin affected him all the way down to the genetic level physically, as well as the spiritual consequences. It is a biblical principle that living beings reproduce after their own kind. That would indicate that it is impossible for a sinful being to have offspring that are not sinful, and we know that to be true.So do you believe in the theory that I was alluding to before, that man had a sort of pre-existant existance and are personally culpable for the sin of Adam because we all personally committed that sin right along with Adam?
We are the seed of Adam, are we not? That's how we are born. but scripture says we as Christians are the "seed of Christ",The parallel that is drawn here is a reference to the roles of each representative, Jesus and Adam. Adam represented all of created humanity. Christ represented those for whom God sent Him to die. Obviously the death of Christ could have atoned for alot more than Adam's fall affected, if that were the intent in His being sent. The point is that Adam represented all and so all fell, while Christ represented the sheep of the flock of God and in Him all those sheep are made alive.
In essence you've grasped the gist of it. Your third statement is the correct understanding of what I was saying.I would say that God either sees man as "in Christ" or "not in Christ." Those not in Christ are of their father the devil. If by "in Christ" and "in Adam" you merely mean to differentiate between those who have been regenerated unto life [in Christ] from those who have not [in Adam] then I'd say I agree.
I wouldn't say spiritually present with Adam, but actually primevally physically present. As such, what happened to Adam happened to us. We got the whole ball of wax from Adam: sin, imputation, and judgement.I may have missed your whole point and if I did I apologize. It seems as if the "meat" of your disagreement is that we can only be held morally accountable for a transgression if we personally participate, so, we were, at least, spiritually present with Adam and committed the sin with him. Is that your point of view?
nobdysfool said:Well, God seems to look at it as though we were there when Adam sinned, and I cited a scripture that indicates that as far as God was concerned, Levi paid tithes in Abraham to Melchizedec, stating that Levi was in Abrahams loins when Abraham did so. The clear inference is that Levi was counted as having done so as well, even though he was not yet born.
You refer to being "spiritually present"...what does that mean?
This is a classic example of imputation. Abraham's Righteous act was imputed to Levi, on the basis of Levi being "in Abraham".
Imputation does not make a person sinful, or righteous. It only "accounts" them as being such, and indicates that they will be treated as such.
Imputation is how Christ was charged with our sin. Imputation is how we are charged with Adam's sin and its judgement, and also how we are accounted righteous in Christ.
The reason you wrestle with it is because the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you it's wrong.
The whole idea of representation is wrong. I'm giving you a scriptural view.
It is our primeval existence in Adam which makes us sinners with his sin. All of Adam's reproductive seed possessed no individuality or separate humanity while inside him. Since it was inside Adam when he sinned, it participated in Adam's act of disobedience along with every other cell within Adam's body. All those who issue from that primeval substance (Adam's seed) share in Adam's sin, imputation, and its consequences.
That would indicate that it is impossible for a sinful being to have offspring that are not sinful, and we know that to be true.
We are the seed of Adam, are we not?
That's how we are born. but scripture says we as Christians are the "seed of Christ"
In essence you've grasped the gist of it. Your third statement is the correct understanding of what I was saying.
I wouldn't say spiritually present with Adam, but actually primevally physically present. As such, what happened to Adam happened to us. We got the whole ball of wax from Adam: sin, imputation, and judgement.
Reformationist said:The "clear inference" is that we, just as Levi paid tithes through Abraham even though he was not personally present, committed the offense against God because we are the progeny of Adam. According to your analogy, which I don't necessarily disagree with, Levi was "personally guilty" of having paid tithes to Melchizedec because of his relationship to Abraham. Granted, in this case, being "personally guilty" is not a bad thing. However, because we are all the seed of Adam then, by that same virtue, we are "personally guilty" of not redering unto God the obedience He demanded, even though we were not personally present.
I'm not so sure we even disagree on this but I'm still unsure of exactly what you mean by "in Abraham" or "in Adam" or "in Christ." I agree that the merit for the righteous actions of Abraham were imputed to Levi. If by, "in Abraham," all you mean is that Levi was the genetic offspring of Abraham then I'd have to say that that does not address the fullness of imputation in a theological sense. We, believers, are not "genetically" the seed of Christ, at least not in the biological sense, yet we are imputed with the righteousness of His righteous works. That is, we are given credit for His works.
We are held accountable because God sovereignly appointed a representative for us in the form of the first human. That God decreed that that fallenness would be transmitted through that same person's reproductive seed isn't the thing that makes us personally culpable. We are personally culpable because Adam acted on behalf of all those that came after him through his seed, which is everyone, just as Christ acted on behalf of those who were chosen by God to be represented by Jesus.
I assume you don't mean to imply that Christ could not have been born of Mary unless Mary was sinless, right?
Yes, but in this case the "incorruptible seed" is not a genetic one, at least not in the sense of biology as it was with Adam.
nobdysfool said:Essentially, yes. The principle I wanted to illustrate here is that in the case of Levi, he was imputed with the benefit of having done a righteous act. In the same way, we we were imputed with the result of having done a sinful act, in Adam. Imputation works both ways, and the imputation is based on the location of the one the result is being imputed to. Levi was counted as having tithed because he was "in Abraham". We are counted as having sinned because we were "in Adam".
In the case of Abraham and Adam, yes, I mean in a genetic sense, because that's really all it can mean. While we are not "genetic" offspring of Christ in the physical sense, we are in the spiritual sense. Even though we were not joined to Christ at the time He walked the earth, died and rose again, we know that all the sacrifices in the OT pointed forward in time to Him, and all the salvation of men since then point back in time to Him, I see this to mean that in the spirit, time is meaningless, and therefore as we are joined to Christ in spirit, and by the Spirit, we are counted as having been there, and "in Him" when those things took place. That being so, our forgiveness is based on the fact that as Christ died, so did we. As Christ rose, so did we, to newness of life. As Christ ascended so shall we, when He returns for us. We are the spiritual offspring of Christ, who is called the Firstborn. We all know that no one is born a Christian by phsyical birth, but all Christians have been born again, the second birth being a birth of the spirit, by the Spirit, and in the Spirit.
In the Spirit, our sense of linear time does not apply, so that what to our view is a past event becomes very much a present event in the Spirit, in its application and result. And a portion of that application is yet future from our view in linear time, but in the Spirit it is a present event, that of the redemption of our bodies upon Christ's Return.
I don't understand the representative idea. It seems to me as though it was noticed that Christ and Adam were paralleled in scripture, and since it appeared Christ was merely a representative, it was reasoned backwards and decided that Adam must have been a representative as well. In reality, the understanding should have been, that since we were literally "in Adam", then for this parallel to be true, we must find how we could literally be "in Christ". Since scripture must be true, then it falls to the one studying to find out how being "in Christ" can be a parallel to being "in Adam". I believe I have shown how this could be.
We're not that far apart on this, I think it's just a matter of seeing the connection in the Spirit which parallels the connection in the physical. For me it answers a lot of nagging little questions I've had in my mind, and also has strengthened my understanding of how I can come boldly before God in prayer. It also answers to the whole issue of man's role vs. God's role in salvation, and it's certainly not at odds with the Calvinist view, although I think it may weaken the Arminian view just a little...
Precisely! Mary was the first surrogate mother. That which was conceived in her womb was not of any fallen human genetic material, either from Mary or from Joseph. Mary was the vehicle through which an entirely new race was born. Jesus was called the Second Adam. He was as human as you or I physically, but He was not gentically linked to the current races of humans. His body was an entirely new body, created sinless, in order to be able to live sinless. Only God could create a new human, alike in every way to the first, but without the sinfulness of the first.
Correct. The difference is that while we were in Adam according to the flesh, we are in Christ according to the Spirit.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Our physical birth was that of the flesh, but our spiritual rebirth was that of the Spirit. The parallel holds up, it just shifts from a physical to a spiritual means, but the method remains the same. I don't think we disagree that scripture says we're "in Christ" as Christians. I believe this explains what that actually means.
I didn't get it overnight, but when I saw it, a whole lot of things suddenly made sense that I didn't understand before. I actually must give credit to my brother, an ordained man of God, and a Greek and Hebrew scholar, for much of this that I have been sharing. He and I debated these things out, much as you and I have been doing, and it was during one of our debates that "the light went on" so to speak. Truth is liberating. That's one of the things I look for in doctrinal discussion and debate. I found this to be so liberating, so refreshing to my heart, that I had a sense of "the Spirit bearing witness with my spirit", in the same way that the Holy Spirit bears witness within ourselves that we are the children of God. Even the terms we use to refer to Christians actually speak to this:
"Children of God";
"Heirs of God"
"We are His offspring"; Acts 17:28, 29
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."
Galatians 4:5b-7 ...that we might receive the adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Reformationist said:Tell me why you believe it is absurd. Do you think that God, by virtue of being the Creator of the saved and the unsaved, is obligated to give the same measure of grace to all mankind? If so, where is that rule dictated in the Word? I can show you numerous examples where God gives one person a measure of grace that He does not give to another.
A choice in what, whether they would have chosen differently? If that is your contention then please understand that you are contending that there is unrighteousness in God. If there was anyone who will ever exist, apart from God, that would have chosen differently then God made an unrighteous choice in appointing our representative. Regardless of your stance on the issues of the reformed faith, all Christian bodies, to include the famous C.S. Lewis, acknowledge that mankind as a whole was imputed with the penalty, whatever that penalty may be, for Adam's transgression. It's clearly stated in the Word so to deny it is ludicrous.
God is God Received. Why He imputed the guilt, by way of representation, and the penalty for Adam's transgressions is not something that is explicitly spelled out in Scripture. What is spelled out clearly is that He did it. It pleased Him to do it because it was the righteous thing to do. It was a divine, providential, sovereign act of God's grace to allow men to Fall, thus paving the way for the glory of His Son to be revealed through the atonement. Question Him if you wish, that is certainly your perrogative, but you'll find no concrete answer, other than it pleased the Godhead in a holy and righteous way, as to why He chose to bring about redemption in the manner He did. That's definitely enough for me. I hold no doubt that had it been me instead of Adam I would have chosen the same as he.
And how does one understand the Word of God to be the Truth and believe it is vox Dei, the voice of God, or berbum Dei, the Word of God? Is it because they persue the Truth and because of their pursuit God rewards them with belief? Is it because God gives them an effectual grace that not only enables one to believe but assures that they will?
According to what? To try to apply this illogical means of determining good and evil to a biblical understanding of good and evil is silly. Good is determined by what is righteous and pleasing to God. What is righteous and pleasing to God is all the things that make up the very character of God Himself. The man in your story commits a justifiable act based on what he believes to be the correct action, i.e., amputate or die. He obviously doesn't want to amputate his arm but he would rather not die so he chooses what he considers the lesser of two evils. That senario has absolutely nothing to do with morality, thus it has nothing to do with "good" or "evil." We can, however, say that if the man wanted to save his life then he was justified in committing such an act.
And this is different from any fallen man how? Fallen humans are people of psychological corruption. In our fallen state we seek that which is pleasing to us but not pleasing to God, to fulfill the lusts of our flesh. I don't mean flesh in a sensuous sense. I mean it in a fallen, corrupted sense as opposed to the things of the Spirit.
Again I agree. However, I believe you use the terms "mind" and "soul" inaccurate, at least in a theological sense. When the Bible speaks of the "heart" of a person it is almost exclusively speaking of his "seat of reason," not the muscle that pumps blood throughout his body. We often say we can understand something, on an intellectual level, with our minds but not grasp it with our heart. It's true that we have our own will. However, as you noted, our very will, and the actions that will provokes, is subject to that which we determine good and pleasing. Fallen man's will has been corrupted so that he never desires that which is righteous and pleasing to God, so, he never seeks to fulfill such endeavors.
I agree. This seems to be the opposite of what you were earlier alluding to:
the benevolence of an action must be judged by its ends.
This is what I'm talking about. Here, again, you seem to be saying the proper method for determining somethings inherent goodness is our ability to understand how it relates to justice. On the contrary, if all of God's actions proceed from His innate righteousness then we can logically conclude that if God does something then it is good because He is good. This does not make God arbitrary or capricious. Rather it shows that God is holy and just. It establishes everything we are able to stand upon, i.e., though we were dead in our sins, He made us alive in Christ because it pleased Him to do so. It pleased Him because it is the righteous and benevolent and merciful thing for a righteous and benevolent and merciful God to do. This is not because we are, or ever will be, worthy apart from Christ. It's because He is good and gracious that we are saved.
I'm not sure if you're saying that you believe this but to me this is an outright denial of God's sovereignty. How can God "attempt" something and not accomplish it? If God could merely "attempt" to save us then the best we could hope for would be that He's successful but we could never be assured. God "attempts" nothing. What God Wills He accomplishes.
Right away I get the feeling that you make this presumption based on a false foundation. You say that God "refuses" to save all men. This, to me, implies that you believe that all men seek salvation through Christ's atonement but God only selects some of those seeking Him to save. This could not be further from the Truth of Scripture. God casts out no one who seeks Him. What needs to be understood is that no one seeks God in their fallen state. No one.
Let's approach this theologically. I know that I, and I assume you, believe that God has the ability to save all people. I also know that I, and again I assume you, believe that not all people will be saved. I say that the reason not all will be saved is because God does not sovereignly elect all unto salvation. I also believe that all those that God does sovereignly elect unto salvation will be saved, by the means and at the time that He has determined. What I'd like to know is, if you agree that God has the ability to save all but not all will be saved, why does God only save some?
Why? God is our Creator. He is just. It is perfectly within His rights to demand obedience. You act as if God forces man to choose evil over righteousness. That's just plain unbiblical. Fallen man FREELY chooses to disobey God. What are we to say? If God made me this way then why does He punish me for it? Am I unable to resist His Will? Do any of those questions sound familiar. Why do you think a teacher par excellance, Paul, asked that question? He asked it, rhetorically, because he knew the objections that would be raised. Those are the exact same objections you are making in response to Calvin's view of the Gospel. God is just. God is our Creator. Therefore, He demands, and is perfectly within His rights to demand, obedience. He is not obligated to give us the grace to be obedient. He is obligated, because He is just, to demand our obedience. No one will be able to stand before God and say, "Hey, why are you blaming me? I'm only acting the way you made me act." God forces no one to sin. Fallen man does it freely and gladly.
Does what for you? You didn't answer my question. Where does it say that everything God does to all people is based on His love for them? Where? Again, I can point out numerous references that explicitly state that God hates certain individuals.
This depends on what you mean by "foreknowledge." Just as a heads up, "foreknowledge" doesn't only mean "to know ahead of time." Are you contending that if God doesn't elect us based on what He knows we will do of our own fallen will then God is unjust? If so, you have just proclaimed some pretty spurious, Pelagian thoughts.
How so?
And that means what to you, that we are not born with a fallen nature?
I agree that would be unjust. It's not what I profess, nor is it what Calvin professed. Your only "out" here is to either deny man's falleness or imply that God is unjust because He doesn't give all people the same grace. God does not stop the non-elect from coming to Him in faith. They just never will because they never desire it. Jonathan Edwards said, "We must always choose according to our greatest desire or inclination in a given situation." All people, unregenerate and regenerate alike, are desire driven. No unregenerate person ever desires to obey God so they freely choose to disobey God. God needn't work "fresh evil" into their already corrupted hearts. God is active in regenerating His elect and passive, as to action, in not regenerating the non-elect. He changes the elect. He does not change the non-elect. Both the elect and the reprobate act according to their desires. If we understand that THE thing that causes believers to desire obedience to God is His grace, which He was not obligated to give, then we can clearly see that God is not unjust for not giving His grace to some. He wasn't obligated to give anyone His grace. He gives salvitic mercy to His elect, non-justice, and gives justice to the non-elect. Neither party experiences acts of injustness from God.
I absolutely agree that there is nothing wrong with striving to gain a greater understanding of God. However, you're outright saying that if God is a certain way, the way the reformed believe Him to be, then He is unjust. That is questioning God in an ungodly way. If you don't agree with my beliefs that is perfectly fine. However, to say that God would be unjust if I am right is to imply there is a possibility of God being less than perfectly righteous. I may not understand something but that has no bearing on whether God is righteous. That is a result of being a finite creature. To me this seems to be more of a case of not understanding reformed theology, Calvinism specifically, rather than disagreeing with it.