Search results for: grace enablements
Grace Enablements
Grace enablements include but are not limited to God’s salvific love for all (John 3:16), God’s manifestation of his power so that all may know he is the Sovereign (Isa 45:21–22), and Creator (Rom 1:18–20), which assures that everyone has an opportunity to know about him. Christ paying for all sins (Luke 22:20;[1] John 1:29),…
Read MoreAnyone and Everyone Can Be Saved by Grace: Grace Enablements
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Because of man’s sin, man is separated from God and destined to eternal hell. Because God is love and loving (John 3:16; 1 John 4:8), He provides man with the real opportunity to…
Read MoreFaith is the Condition of Salvation and Grace is the Work of Salvation
Calvinists take solace in the claim that they believe salvation is totally a work of God (unconditional election, man’s passiveness until selective regeneration, regeneration prompting faith, etc.), while oftentimes either implying or explicitly accusing those who make salvation conditioned upon man exercising faith (exercising faith in response to hearing the gospel prior to regeneration or…
Read MoreCalvinism Makes Conditional Prayers, Statements, and Commands Nonsensical
The Calvinist may respond that I err when I say determinism (compatible style) makes conditionals in the Scripture nonsensical. They would probably base this on the idea that, according to compatibilism, man is considered to make a free choice to meet or not meet the condition as long as he chooses according to his greatest…
Read MoreSome Thoughts on Creation, Sin, Depravity, and Redemption: Extensivism and Calvinism
God created the world in holiness, love, and grace. God provided sufficient grace for Adam and Eve and their offspring to live for Him in fellowship and holiness by means of His creative grace. Every aspect of His original creation was by grace. Adam and Eve possessed everything in superabundance to fulfill His will, to…
Read MoreFaith Precedes Regeneration and Revelation Precedes Faith: John Chapters 6, 3, and Matthew 27:42
Salvation begins with God revealing Himself to man. Man cannot find God unless He reveals Himself to man. God’s love for His creation is the reason there is a way for people to be saved from their just desert (John 3:16). Christ came into the world to save mankind, which means He had to pay…
Read MoreWhat about Those Who Never Hear the Gospel: Foreordination versus Foreknowledge
InPart 1,we looked at the Calvinist argument that is supposed to demonstrate that Extensivists (non-Calvinists) have their own form of election since, as they contend, God does not give everyone a chance to hear the gospel and be saved. We saw their argument fails to be convincing. To further clarify and amplify God’s salvific love…
Read MoreCalvinism’s Confusion about God
Although both Calvinism and Extensivism (the belief that God genuinely wants every person to be saved and has made it possible for them to be saved) fall within the parameters of orthodoxy, and I do love my Calvinist brothers and sisters, we embrace very different ideas of God. Since God’s salvation plan is the most…
Read MoreCalvinism Obscures the Simple Gospel
I agree with the Calvinist claim that the gospel is simple and clear, but I contend that Calvinism, by its very nature, complicates and obscures the simple and clear gospel.[1] Yes, someone can be saved when anyone says something like, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” but the difference between what a Calvinist and Extensivist…
Read MoreCalvinist John Piper’s Confusion about Salvation
John Piper writes, “My aim here is to show from Scripture that the simultaneous existence of God’s will for ‘all persons to be saved’ (1 Tim. 2:4) and his will to elect unconditionally those who will actually be saved is not a sign of divine schizophrenia or exegetical confusion. A corresponding aim is to show that unconditional…
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