Remind me to explain the gospel to you again some time.
Of course God is pleased to save those who believe. That’s been His plan all along.
You and I are believers and it pleases God very much to save us – through justification, sanctification, and glorification.
But you are using 1 Corinthians 1:21 as a proof text that teaches that God does
not choose who will believe.
It was in the context of your using the verse as a proof text for your argument that I said, “No – God chooses who will believe.”
I think you already understand that. But, in case you do not, I’m sorry for any confusion.
I wouldn’t want anyone else to misunderstand where I was coming from either.
Now that that’s been cleared up – I trust you won’t use my statement again against me out of the context in which it was stated. Thanks!
“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love” Eph. 1:4
“But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” 2 Thess. 2:13
“For he says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." Romans 9:15
“who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,” 2 Tim. 1:9
“And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."” Ex. 33:19
“"I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me… Is. 65:1
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” John 15:16
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me….” John 17:6
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Eph. 2:10
“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are” 1 Cor. 1:26-31
“Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” James 2:5
“In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” James 1:18
“according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood” 1 Peter 1:2
“For many are called, but few are chosen." Matt. 2 2:14
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” John 6:37-40
“Who will bring a charge against God's elect?” Romans 8:38
“even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” John 17:2
“even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” Col. 3:12
“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Phil. 2:12-13
“For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.” 2Tim. 2:10
No doubt you would have a different slant on all of these verses and more that I could provide (particularly if I included every verse that refers to us as the “chosen” and the “elect” of God.
But I won’t enter into a dissection of every single verse with you.
I have gone to this trouble only to show that people who believe in election are hardly making the doctrine out of whole cloth. There are good reasons for believing in election in the scripture (even beside these verses).
Your saying, “Where is the Scriptural support for Marvin's claim that "God chooses who will believe"?? He cannot support his claim from Scripture. Because it simply isn't true.” ---- just isn’t fairr.
Not that we follow mere men. But a great many better theologians than you and I thought through these things with only the scriptures as their guide and came to the same conclusions at the risk of their very lives.
Many more have followed in their footsteps over the centuries - so that the majority of good systematic theologies that attempt to dissect soteriology state the same conclusions again and again.
You and I can disagree about election and predestination. Just don’t try to misrepresent how people come to conclusions like mine and others.
