There is so much in the Bible that flies in the face of Calvinism.
Too many verses like this:
Colossians 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
23 IF ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
John Gill comments:
"
Colossians 1:23
If ye continue in the faith
In the doctrine of faith which they had received and embraced; and in the grace of faith, and the exercise of it which was implanted in them; and in the profession of faith which they had made: not that the virtue and efficacy of Christ's blood, sufferings, and death, and reconciliation of their persons to God thereby, depended upon their faith, and abiding in it; but that faith and continuance in it were necessary means of their presentation in unblemished holiness and righteousness; for if they had not faith, or did not abide in it or if the good work of grace was not wrought upon their souls, and that performed until the day of Christ, they could not be presented holy and blameless: this shows the necessity of the saints' final perseverance in faith and holiness, and is mentioned with this view, to put them upon a concern about it, and to make use of all means, under divine grace, to enjoy it; and nothing could more strongly incline and move unto it, than the blessed effect of Christ's death, reconciliation and the end of it, to present the reconciled ones blameless; in order to which it is necessary they should hold on and out to the end: hence the Ethiopic version reads the words, not as a condition, but as an exhortation enforced by what goes before; "therefore be ye established in the faith": it follows,"
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I see nothing here that goes against Calvinism.
...and this...
Hebrews 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
(confidence = faith. This verse tells us that we must hold the beginning of our confidence in Christ, stedfast to the end... otherwise, we will not be made partakers of Christ.)
I love it when people use Hebrews.
Arthur W. Pink comments:
"For the right understanding of this verse it is of first importance that we should note
carefully the tense of the verb in the first clause: it is not "we shall be made partakers of Christ
if"—that would completely overthrow the gospel of God’s grace, deny the efficacy of the
finished Work of Christ, and make assurance of our acceptance before God impossible before
death. No, what the Spirit here says is, "We are made partakers of Christ," and in the Greek it is
expressed even more decisively: "For partakers we have become of the Christ." The word
"partakers" here is the same as in Hebrews 3:1, "partakers of the heavenly calling," and at the
end of Hebrews 1:9 is rendered, "fellows." Perhaps, "companions" would be a better rendering.
It means that we are so "joined unto the Lord," as to be "one spirit" with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). It is
to be so united to Christ that we are "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones"
(Ephesians 5:30). It is to be made by grace, "joint-heirs" with Him (Rom. 8:17). The word "made
partakers of Christ" shows there was a time when Christians were not so. They were not so
born naturally; it was a privilege conferred upon them when they "received" Him as their Savior
(John 1:12).
"If we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." This does not
express a condition of our remaining partakers of Christ in the sense of its being a contingency.
"What is the one thing which the Christian desires? What is the one great thing which he does?
What is the one great secret which he is always endeavoring to find out with greater clearness
and grasp with firmer intensity? Is it not this: ‘my Beloved is mine, and I am His’? The inmost
desire of our heart and the exhortation of the Word coincide. To the end we must persevere;
and it is therefore with great joy and alacrity that we receive the solemn exhortations: ‘He that
endureth unto the end shall be saved’; ‘No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’ We desire to hear constantly the voice which saith from His
Heavenly throne, ‘To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My kingdom, even as I
also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne’" (Saphir).
To hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end is to furnish evidence of
the genuineness of our profession, it is to make it manifest both to ourselves and others that
we have been made "partakers of Christ." Difficulties in the path are presupposed, severe trials
are to be expected: how else could faith show itself? Buffetings and testings do but provide
occasions for the manifestation of faith, they are also the means of its exercise and growth. The
Greek word for "confidence" here is not the same as in verse 6: there the "confidence" spoken
of is to make a bold and free confession of our faith; here, it is a deep and settled assurance of
Christ’s excellency and sufficiency, which supports our hearts. The one is external, the other is
internal. To "hold fast the beginning of our confidence" signifies to "continue in the faith,
grounded and settled" (Col. 1:23). It is to say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in
Him." (Job 13:15).
"Firm unto the end." This is the test. At the beginning of our Christian course, our
confidence in Christ was full and firm. We knew that He was a mighty Savior, and we were fully
persuaded that He was able to keep that which we have committed unto Him against that day.
But the roughness of the way, the darkness of the night, the fierceness of the storm into which,
sooner or later, we are plunged, tends to shake our confidence, and perhaps (much to our
sorrow now) we cried, "Lord, carest Thou not"? Yet, if we were really "partakers of Christ"
though we fell, yet were we not utterly cast down. We turned to the Word, and there we found
help, light, comfort. In it we discovered that the very afflictions we have experienced were
what God had told us would be our portion for "we are appointed thereunto" (1 Thess. 3:3). In
it we learned that God’s chastenings of us proceeded from His love (Heb. 12). And now, though
we have proved by painful experience to have less and less confidence in ourselves, in our
friends, and even in our brethren, yet, by grace, our confidence in the Lord has grown and
become more intelligent. Thus do we obtain experimental verification of that word, "Better is
the end of a thing than the beginning thereof" (Ecclesiastes 7:8).
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One more?
Romans 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, IF thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
(This speaks of one who is already grafted in, not one who may potentially be grafted in!)
Again, John Gill comments:
"
if thou continue in his goodness;
meaning not the love, grace, and free favour of God, or the grace of the Spirit, a continuance in which no "if" is to be put upon; for such who are interested in the love of God always continue in it, and nothing can separate them from it; and such as have the graces of the Spirit implanted in them, as faith, hope, and love, can never lose them; these always remain in them, and they in the possession of them, though not always in the exercise of them; but the goodness of God in a church state is here meant, as the means of grace and comfort, the ministration of the word and ordinances; and the sense is, if thou dost not despise the riches of divine goodness in a church relation, if thou dost not abuse it, or walk unworthy of it, if thou abidest by it, and retainest a value for it, thou wilt still share the advantages of it:"
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I see nothing that goes against Calvinism.
God Bless
Till all are one.
