Salvation is by Grace , all things are ours because God has favoured us ...

[cygnusx1]

2 Peter 1 :3

seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; WEB
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seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue;[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ASV[/font]
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Because by his power he has given us everything necessary for life and righteousness, through the knowledge of him who has been our guide by his glory and virtue;[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] BBE[/font]
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As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us by glory and virtue,[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] DBY[/font]
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According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] KJV[/font]
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According as his divine power hath given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] WBS[/font]
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seeing that His divine power has given us all things that are needful for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who has appealed to us by His own glorious perfections.[/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] WEY[/font]
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As all things to us His divine power (the things pertaining unto life and piety) hath given, through the acknowledgement of him who did call us through glory and worthiness, [/font][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]YLT[/font]

 

[cygnusx1]

Let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. (1CORINTHIANS3:21—23.)

which obviously includes all things pertaining to Salvation .........

saved By Grace Alone!!!

 

[bitwise]

Let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. (1CORINTHIANS3:21—23.)

which obviously includes all things pertaining to Salvation .........

saved By Grace Alone!!!

Indeed, if salvation is a gift, then it implies that everything listed as a prerequisite for salvation must also be a gift. If any one of the prerequisites for salvation was merited by man, then salvation cannot truly be a gift from God, because man would have had participated in some of it.

-bit

 

[cygnusx1]

Indeed, if salvation is a gift, then it implies that everything listed as a prerequisite for salvation must also be a gift. If any one of the prerequisites for salvation was merited by man, then salvation cannot truly be a gift from God, because man would have had participated in some of it.

-bit

absolutely bitwise , that is the whole point of Salvation being by Grace .

First God introduced The Law to show mankind (especially gifted JEWs) that salvation cannot be reached by man ...... the Law exposes man as a self seeking sinful disobedient depraved creature .

God did this on purpose so that when The Gospel came there would be a stark contrast between Salvation by works and by Grace !

the problem is many fundementalists have narrowed the gap between salvation by works and salvation by Grace .

how have they done this?

by taking the demands of The Law and changing them for the demands of The Gospel !!

So the Gospel becomes little more than salvation by EVANGELICAL ''good works'' .... instead of by Grace.

Unless the stark contrast remains "it is not of him who willeth or worketh but God who shows mercy" the Gospel becomes nothing but another contract founded upon merit instead of a Gift of God's love.

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: KJV

So even Faith has been granted unto us , for without it we can never have life or Godliness , but death and sin.

 

[ian90]

Indeed, if salvation is a gift, then it implies that everything listed as a prerequisite for salvation must also be a gift. If any one of the prerequisites for salvation was merited by man, then salvation cannot truly be a gift from God, because man would have had participated in some of it.

How is it less an act of grace to save a believing sinner? It is not. How can a person's belief somehow nullify grace? It does not. Therefore none of the prerequisites for salvation are merited by man. This does not follow that we do not participate though.

Anology:
When a father gives a present to his son for no paticular reason other then for the fathers pleasure, it is really no different then if he gives his son a gift on his birthday. Being born on a certain day does not automatically merit gifts - likewise faith does not automatically merit salvation.

The difference is that God promises to save all who believe, just as the father promised to give a gift to his son on his birthday. Just as our next birthday is not guaranteed, neither is having faith. But God's graceful promise still applies to all men.



If I follow your logic that our participation somehow lessens the fullness of grace, then God's graciousness would be most glorified if he only saved unbelievers and fairly damned believers to hell!



This is a problem with limited atonement though...

 

[NJA]

Grace is a word that religious people use a lot, but what is it ?

The absense of law ? No, that's lawlessness. Jesus was "full of grace and truth", (John 1v14) what was he full of?
The nature of God !

He was full of the Holy Spirit and we need to receive that same Spirit to be saved by grace:-

Zechariah 12:10: And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications

and so it was / is:-

Acts 2:4: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance . . .

Peter explained:-
33: Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear . . . :39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
(sure enough, the gentiles get the same because there is *one* gospel - Acts 10v44-46, 19v1-6)

Salvation is deliverance, from a state of "sin", being "in the flesh", *not* having God's nature/identity, to being "in the Spirit":-

"he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us (Acts 2 onwards) abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour" (Titus 3v5-6)

 

[Ainesis]

Cheap Grace

http://www.omegaministry.org/grace.html

***Excerpt***

How many times have you heard someone define grace as the "unmerited favor of God?" While this is true, many misunderstand what this means. Just because you cannot earn God's grace (unmerited) does not mean that there is nothing necessary for the gift to be received (unconditional).

Let's say that I purchase a gift for you and then tell you how to get it. Your following my instructions to retrieve the gift does not mean that you have earned it nor that you now deserve it. Likewise, refusing to retrieve the gift does not nullify the fact that I have given it to you. The failure to distinquish this difference is one of the most common flaws with those who aspire to a "grace only" or "grace alone" doctrine.

God Himself never says that grace is unconditional. On the contrary, He identifies two attributes necessary for those who would receive grace. Proverbs 3:34 states that God "scorns the scorners: but he gives grace unto the lowly." Similarly, we see that He "resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble" [I Peter 5:5; James 4:6]. The Bible also states that it is faith which gives us access to the gift of God's grace [Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:8]. In order to receive God's gift of grace that brings salvation we must first recognize the fact that we need the gift (humility) and then trust that God is the only one who is able to redeem us (faith).

 

[cygnusx1]

Ephesians 1:4-7, "But God, being rich in mercy...might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." ​

For the first Wednesday topic I have been asked to try to show what the difference is between grace and mercy. This was a topic one of you suggested and anyone is welcome to continue to suggest topics. I have a few, but more suggestions are always welcome.

Grace is most commonly called "unmerited favor". Grace is what God offers to fallen sinners through the salvation obtained by the atonement of Jesus Christ. We call it grace because it is undeserved. The forgiveness we receive in Christ is through no work we ourselves do, it is for this reason we call it "unmerited favor". (Romans 3:24, Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10, Titus 2:11)

Grace can be broken down into lots of subsets: Common and Special grace, saving grace, free grace, justifying grace, prevenient grace, efficacious grace, sanctifying grace, Covenant of Grace, cooperating grace, irresistible grace, and means of grace to name a few. All these phrases are various theological narrowings of the term grace. Your use of these particular terms will differ depending upon the theological tradition you ally yourself with.

Mercy is what grace offers. The grace of God comes to us in our poor sinful condition and offers us the mercy of God when we deserve His wrath. So grace comes to us giving us mercy. I admit it is somewhat semantical, and the terms are virtually interchangeable. There is a subtle difference in the two words. Mercy has meaning more synonymous with compassion. For some verses on mercy see, Psalm 119:156, Jeremiah 31:20, Romans 9:15, Matthew 18:33.

" 'Grace' is more than mercy and love, it superadds to them. It denotes, not simply love, but the love of a sovereign, transcendently superior, one that may do what he will, that may wholly choose whether he will love or no. There may be love between equals, and an inferior may love a superior; but love in a superior, and so superior as he may do what he will, in such a one love is called grace: and therefore grace is attributed to princes; they are said to be gracious to their subjects, whereas subjects cannot be gracious to princes. Now God, who is an infinite Sovereign, who might have chosen whether ever He would love us or no, for Him to love us, this is grace." Thomas Goodwin

"Mercy is God's favour that holds back from us what we deserve. Grace is God's favour that gives us what we do not deserve." Rolfe Barnard

http://www.cfdevotionals.org/devpg98/de980610.htm

 

[sojourner]

ian90,

If I follow your logic that our participation somehow lessens the fullness of grace, then God's graciousness would be most glorified if he only saved unbelievers and fairly damned believers to hell!
This is a problem with limited atonement though...

It goes much deeper than that. By their logic all who are redeemed are saved. Limited redemption as well as limited atonement. Thus if only those redeemed are saved, all are saved. Since one cannot lose that salvation, all those who were redeemed are saved to eternity.
Hell does not exist in their theology. What does exist is that all others not redeemed are destroyed. Death is the end of man's existance as a human being.
Christ overcame the fall, reversed the judgement against Adam for only some and those some are predetermined as well.

 

[cygnusx1]

Calvinists believe Grace can be resisted ........................... *drum roll*


but NEVER by the Elect !!!!!

 

[NJA]

If u havn't received the grace this thread is just people talking about something they don't have !

Pls see my prev. post and say if u agree or not.

 

[cygnusx1]

If u havn't received the grace this thread is just people talking about something they don't have !

Pls see my prev. post and say if u agree or not.

right .............................. btw , thanks for the condemnation hope you feel better now

 

[NJA]

Some people realise it's not just about words and thank me for showing them what they are missing, others don't want to be childlike and let God do what only God can do.
Ever notice how Jesus and his disciples enraged certain religious people ? What's new ?

2Co:2:15: For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
:16: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life