It's not Faith that saves, but Christ.
That is good news for the Calvinists indeed...
Christ is the bedrock of the sinner who believes.
Faith in the object that saves; namely Christ Jesus.
Good! Then all we need is this faith in Jesus Christ...
So that the acquisition of this faith should be the object of all Calvinist Theology, yes?
Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.
Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology (pg. 723)
This is very problematic scripturally...
Where in Scripture does God take
legal actions?
Where does God in Scripture
think of our sins as forgiven?
Where does God in Scripture
think of Christ's righteousness as belonging to us?
And where in Scripture does God
declare us righteous in His sight?
Assuredly, when God acts, things happen according to His Will...
God's thoughts are recorded as not being our thoughts...
Surely God imparts His Righteousness to the penitent...
And where in Scripture does God declare the unrighteously unrepentant to be righteous in His sight?
Scripture, when it treats of justification by faith, leads us in a very different direction.
Scripture turns us from our old ways? God certainly does, but Scripture?
Turning away our view from our own works, it bids us look only to the mercy of God and the perfection of Christ.
Scripture tells us to repent and be baptized, because the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now, and that it is suffering violence, and that the violent are siezing [the Greek has it "harpooning"] the Kingdom of Heaven by force...
John the Baptist preached this, then upon his death Christ preached it, and upon His Death and Resurrection, Peter preached it, all this recorded in Scripture... Before Christ's Ministry, during Christ's Ministry, and then after Christ's Ministry... We are not to passively look away from our deeds and look to the Mercy of God, but to forcibly deny ourselves and then even more forcibly to take up our own cross of suffering and to follow Christ...
The order of justification which it sets before us is this: first, God of His mere Gratuitous Goodness is pleased to embrace the sinner, in whom He sees nothing that can move Him to mercy but wretchedness, because He sees him altogether naked and destitute of good works.
Scripture tells us that those whom God foreknew, these also He Fore-ordained, and whom He fore-ordained He Called, and whom He Called, He justified, and whom He Justified, these also He Glorified... God embraces all who come to Him by repentence... I am sure you have read the Scripture of discipleship - It begins with that magic little Greek word -
ei-
"IF ANYONE is willing to follow after Me, let him first deny himself, then take up his cross and follow Me..." Christ's own words to you and to me... IF you are willing... [And yes, most translate it as "If anyone desires..." The Greek word is thelei - wills...]
He, therefore, seeks the cause of kindness in himself, that thus he may affect the sinner by a sense of his goodness, and induce him, in distrust of his own works, to cast himself entirely upon his mercy for salvation.
This describes the Calling of God to those He has fore-known and fore-ordained...
This is the meaning of faith by which the sinner comes into the possession of salvation, when, according to the doctrine of the Gospel, he perceives that he is reconciled by God;
It CAN, rarely, be experienced in this way, but normally is not... Normally, the Call of God convicts the person of the error of his manner of life, and calls him to repentance from that error so as to subjugate himself to God...
when, by the intercession of Christ, he obtains the pardon of his sins, and is justified; and, though renewed by the Spirit of God, considers that, instead of leaning on his own works, he must look solely to the righteousness which is treasured up for him in Christ.
And how does Calvin say that one comes to KNOW that his sins are pardoned and that he is justified? Is this a private Spiritual event that the unrepentant can enjoy?
Institutes of the Christian Religion (3.11.16)
Thank-you - That is the first time I have read Calvin..
The phrase “in him” I have preferred to retain, rather than render it “by him” because it has in my opinion more expressiveness and force. For we are enriched in Christ, inasmuch as we are members of his body, and are engrafted into him: nay more, being made one with him, he makes us share with him in everything that he has received from the Father.
John Calvin Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:5
"...
IN HIM..." is the correct translation, irreligious of its so called "more expressiveness and force"... The Greek word is -en- -
in or
within...
Because we are Baptized INTO Christ, yes?
And it is IN Him that we are enriched...
We are not separate from Him and then get enriched BY Him as separate FROM Him...
Very much, thank-you...
I sure wish you might have addressed the issue of the Solas...
I was baptized Presbyterian at age two and a half...
I remember it...
Arsenios