Bible Question:
Greetings John! Let me respond to your brain twister by twisting it back to you. If number 2 is correct, then why does the Bible command the elect to repent? Haven't their sins already been paid for? Or, why are we commanded in 1 John 1:9 to confess our sins? Aren't they already forgiven? My answer is simply this: 1 John 2:2! However, Scripture makes it clear that reception of this gift is conditioned upon faith and repentance. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
Bible Answer: Dear Tim, God does not act in a vacumn but employs means by which He calls the elect unto Himself. Besides which, repentance is not a work we perform but a natural reaction to our sins that is part and pacel with our regeneration. "My answer is simply this: 1 John 2:2!" Tim, it can be easily refuted by stating that the "whole world" refers to the elect throughout the whole world. You say that Scripture makes plain that the reception of this gift is conditional. That it is contingent on the faith found in the recipient. How, then, is grace to be viewed as "free" when it must need the fulfillment of a requirement to be obtained? Does'nt that turn faith into a work performed by the man. You could not give a reasoned reply to John Owens because it turns upside down your interpretation of 1 John 2:2 Your Brother, John |