When it comes to the idea that God has a finite number of people that He’s chosen for eternal life, all kinds of roadblocks get thrown up.
One kind of roadblock is the “well that’s ONE WAY to read this passage, but it could have just as easily been read like this…”
Is that true? I think that’s nonsense. Yes, some passages are harder to unpack than others, and I’m not perfect by any means, but it’s just plain lazy to say that because we see a passage a different way that it can’t be known.
Well, this happened to me just this week; a dear brother in Christ and I were discussing Acts 13:48 and he made that exact statement!
Is he unintelligent? No! In fact he’s much much more “bible-literate” than I am…but the question is: how much did he study the passage or did he just “assume it’s meaning”?
So I took my Saturday morning and did a pretty thorough study on this passage.
I think I read the same treatment of this verse by Dr. James White. He agrees with you! And so do I. And so does a plain reading without the benefit of a Greek lexicon, which you probably already know. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit as teacher. The work of the enemy on the human mind is so subtle that sometimes it takes careful and exacting study to make a dent in preconceived notions based on eisegesis.
I shared this verse with a lady at chapel yesterday. She is stuck on election. She loves Spurgeon, but had no idea he was a Calvinist. She also loves God so I consider our little conversation seeds planted in good soil.
Dan,
I’m sure you have, this is not new ground, and although I did the actual work on it…it’s nothing new.
I mostly did it because I wanted to see for myself…and not take Dr. Whites word for it.
It was very rewarding, and I learned more about doing these kinds of studies.
Basically we are having the same issues that have been thrown around for hundreds of years!!
I’m a little confused by this lady you talk about…I can’t believe she’s actually READ Spurgeon if she’s surprised by the fact that he’s a Calvinist?
I’m working on a study this week to answer the question:
“What does it mean to foreknow” as in Romans 8:29-30
The lady I mentioned love Suprgeon’s teachings on Grace, and in her past has known some Hypercalvinists who believe God ’sends’ people hell rather than passes some by who are headed there anywhere. She also has trouble getting her head around how God changes the will so that we would embrace His son. Lot’s of ‘free will’ issues. I told her that we do make decisions out of our will but that for the one who receives Christ, God actually changes the will and turns it toward Himself, so that we choose Christ because we WANT Him.
Having said that, Carissa (the lady) really loves the Lord. We were talking before she had to do children’s church and I was to get the little ones for the nursery age class.
BTW, I also mentioned to her that the foreknowledge of God was about His intimate knowing of us by name before the world was created, not that he elected those he foreknew would eventually choose him.
Dan,
That’s great that she’s willing to discuss this.
I have no problem with “iron sharpening iron” and most Christians are willing to discuss ANYTHING as long as it doesn’t involve “T.U.L.I.P.”
I don’t mind discussion and a fair look at what the Doctrines of Grace have to say and what they’re based on…it’s the “Head-in-the-sand-fingers-in-the-ear-I-can’t-hear-you!” thing that gets to me.
May God open her eyes,
bob
I hear that! I remember when John 6:44 nailed me between the eyes and put me on my knees (years ago). Calvinism was an unknown topic for me then. Much later in life, I quoted it and was told T.U.L.I.P was showing! By that time I had read a lot of Calvin, but he was not even in my thoughts – just what that scripture spoke to my heart and how it dethroned the idea I had made my own decision.
Your “Head-in-the-sand-fingers-in-the-ear-I-can’t-hear-you!” comment is right on target. Sometime or other, many years ago, a man’s name was associated with what was plain from scripture and the enemy had an opportunity to attack truth – and was very successful.
BTW, http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2008/04/t4g-mp3s.html
links to the Together for the Gospel seminar presentations in mp3 format. You might have already found them and downloaded them.
Dan,
I thank you for the comment and especially for the link to those great audios!
bob
My pleasure! I’ve only listened to the first one and am planning on needing to listen to them several times to capture all the truth they represent!
I am now listening to the 4th presentation – Mark Dever. I had not listened to him before. He is discussing how today’s evangelicalism has added to the gospel, called things the gospel that are not central but are implications, and contextualization. Awesome.
Dan,
If you like that..you might like this….Keith Green discussing the same thing…in the 70’s.
Here is the link
http://goshareyourfaith.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/keith-green-whats-been-taken-from-or-added-tothe-gospel/