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NASB | John 15:16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 15:16 "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. |
Subject: Did the disciples have a choice? |
Bible Note: Greetings Hank! I recently purchased Norman Geisler's book, "Chosen But Free" because of a thread on this forum where it was being disussed. He includes an appendix where historical quotes about free will are listed. I thought it was extremely interesting. Here are a couple of samples. 1) Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-165) - "God, wishing men and angels to folow His will, resolved to create them free to do righteousness. But if the Word of God foretells that some angels and men shall certainly be punished, it did so because it foreknew that they would be unchangeably (wicked), but not because God created them so. So if they repent, all who wish for it can obtain mercy from God (Dialogue, CXLI)." 2) Irenaeus (A.D. 130-200) - "This expression, 'How often would I have gathered thy children together, and thou wouldst not,' set forth the anciet law of human liberty, because God made man a free [agent] from the begining, possessing hs own soul to obey the behests of God voluntarily, and not by compulsion of God. For there is no coercion with Gd, but a good will (toward us) is present with Him continually (Against Heresies, XXXVII)." 3) Athenagoras of Athens (2nd Century) - "Just as with men who have freedom of choice as to both virtue and vice (for you would not either honor the good or punish the bad; unless vice and virtue were in their own power, and some are dilligent in the matters entrusted o them, and others faithless), so it is among the angels (Embassy for Christians, XXIV)." I just thought these were interesting, because they give us a pick into the thought of those who lived near the time of the writting of the New Testament. :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |