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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | How can anyone be saved? | 1 Cor 2:14 | Reformer Joe | 60779 | ||
Emmaus: You wrote: 'Sounds like adding the "work" of preaching to Christ's finisfhed work in order to accomplish God's plan of salvation.' Properly understood, the preaching is not a work that accomplishes anything itself. However, it is the medium through which the Spirit works: "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." --1 Corinthians 2:3-5 It is biblically true that people will not ordinarily be saved without the work of preaching (Romans 10:14), but it is not the work of preaching that is active in saving someone, but rather the Holy Spirit working in and through the medium of preaching. That's why Reformed Christians refer to preaching as a "means of grace," because it is an avenue through which the Holy Spirit works. In the rest of 1 Corinthians 2, Paul distinguishes that the work of preaching itself accomplishes nothing on its own when he says the following: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." --1 Corinthians 2:12-14 So the unregenerate will not understand nor respond favorably to the message of God, because they have not the Spirit. It is only when the Spirit purposefully works in the life of the hearer of the external message that the message is understood and believed. This is in keeping with Isaiah 55:11, which says that God's word will not return void, but will accomplish every last thing that God intends it to. So, God uses the works of His people (the church) to accomplish his purposes. This includes preaching and the sacraments and prayer. None of these things do anything in themselves (at least in the classical Protestant understanding) but they all are appointed by God as the means by which he conveys grace upon his people. --Joe! |
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2 | How can anyone be saved? | 1 Cor 2:14 | Emmaus | 60810 | ||
Joe, My commnet was a little tongue in cheek tease. Sounds like the work of preaching which is not a work is a lot like the all that does not mean all. Emmaus |
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3 | How can anyone be saved? | 1 Cor 2:14 | Reformer Joe | 60839 | ||
You wrote: "Sounds like the work of preaching which is not a work is a lot like the all that does not mean all." Not at ALL! :) First of all, preaching is a work. It is not the preaching itself that that saves. The Holy Spirit sovereignly works through the preaching He inspires to bring people to Himself. Secondly, this work is not a work on the part of the hearer (and potential convert), but on the part of the preacher. When Paul says in Romans 4 that one is saved by faith apart from works, it is pretty safe to assume that he has works on the part of the justified sinner in mind. Works are definitely involved in justification; they just aren't the convert's works. The Father does the work of sending the Son and pouring out His wrath on the Lamb. Jesus' work was perfect obedience to the Father and serving as the sunstitutionary, sinless sacrifice. Jesus' work continues in His continuous intercession between us and the Father (Hebrews 7). The Holy Spirit's work is to apply the benefits of Christ's death to the convert. God sovereignly uses the works of His people to do it, which He has prepares beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10) and which he works in us to produce (Philippians 2:13). So salvation is God's work from first to last. He in His grace and love allows His people to be a be agents and means, to co-labor with Christ. --Joe! |
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