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NASB | Matthew 22:14 "For many are called, but few are chosen." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 22:14 "For many are called (invited, summoned), but few are chosen." |
Subject: Is God Lord over all except human will |
Bible Note: Dear New Creature, "If all men do not receive the light, then John 1:9 needs to be removed from the Bible also." There are two kinds of revelation which God has provided man. The witness of nature (creation itself and all it contains) and the witness provided by Scripture. Paul has told us that no one may offer the excuse that he was ignorant of the existence of God, for the evidence is ubiquitous. All one needs is to look around, the proof is indisputable. But what do the fallen children of Adam do with this information? They "...suppress the truth in unrighteousness,". Paul was not not talking about some men, but ALL men, as we can plainly see from Rom 3:11 "THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;" It is not a question of men recieving or not recieving. It is a question of undestanding and loving that which has been revealed. John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it; John 3:19 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil." It is a mistake to believe that fallen mankind just needs to be presented with the facts concerning the gospel, and then are free to make a choice based upon the desire of their hearts. For one thing, their hearts are wicked and their desires evil. That desire being to embrace Christ or to reject Him. "...no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." John 6:65 and Matt 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. My point is that fallen man, given the hardness of his heart, will never embrace Christ. And that is why salvation must be a gift and not something one obtains by works (i.e. "accepting" Christ). Salvation is of the Lord alone. Ezek 36:26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Rom 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. John |