Subject: God is not the author of evil. |
Bible Note: Colin, OK, I'll try. God's call to fallen sinful man itself is a grace. In calling us, our hearts are illuminated by the Holy Spirit with the conviction us of our sinfulness. This conviction is itself a grace that disposes us and allows us freely to consider God's call and the Gospel and to freely choose our own sinful desires or repentance and surrender to God's grace. Thus by God's predisposing grace we receive the freedom to attain to hope which leads to repentance, faith and the grace of justification. So that grace follows upon grace unto justification and salvation. Or we freely reject God's approach to us in favor of our own unrestrained desires, so that sin follows upon sin unto our destruction. What else is the preaching of the Gospel but a grace from God. And what is the point of preaching the Gospel if it does not liberate man to the point of being able to freely choose what God is offering. The truth of the Gospel is itself a grace that sets you free to choose. Otherwise the Gospel is not preached but imposed. That is my weak effort to summarize. Emmaus |