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NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: THE CROSS |
Bible Note: Hi gracefull! Hope you had a safe 4th! I tried my best to blow the tips of my fingers off! I won't be lighting firecrackers off in my hands anymore, that's for sure! Thank you for answering the question honestly, and not dodging the issue like many people seem to do. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is not one that is popular amongst modern Christians, and for the most part, I believe this stems from a lack of correct Biblical understanding of God and from prevelant erroneous teaching within the church itself. Also, I think the two are in a vicious cycle that continuosly feed each other through the generations. Back to the discussion itself, I want to first off recommend a book for your consideration on this issue. CHOSEN BY GOD by RC Sproul is an outstanding book on the nature of salvation. Dr. Sproul does a much better explaining things with clarity and humility than I could ever hope to do. But nevertheless, I will continue to offer my beliefs for you to consider in regard to Scripture. 1. Do you think your faith is something that you muster up within yourself, or a gift given to you by God? (1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 8:5-7; Eph. 2:8-9) The Bible frequently shows us that all one has to do to be saved is to believe in God and the One he has sent. And I would totally agree. But in none of those verses does it tell us HOW the belief came about within us. The Bible does say that we are enemies of God (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 5:10; Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 1:21; James 4:4) before being saved. So I still don't understand how you can claim that your CHOICE is the difference between you and the next guy. Prior to regeneration, what virtue was in you but not in the unbelieving one? Basically, you are saying "All that guy has to do is believe. Simple as that". Now the "believe" part I agree with. But it's not that simple. Jesus elaborates on this point. Let's take a closer look: Joh 8:47 He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God. Please compare this to salvation (indeed it is directly connected already) and the context of our discussion. Notice Jesus didn't say "He that is of God hears the words of God. If you want to be of God, then all you have to do is hear." That would be putting the cart before the horse. Jesus simply tells it like it is. Those who are of God (regenerated) will hear Him and those who aren't won't. So how does this connect to our discussion? I believe regeneration precedes faith. God must give each of us "ears to hear" so to speak BEFORE we can believe. The example of John 8:47 supports this, as does John 6:65 and many other verses. So we're back to square one. Does God give everyone ears to hear? If so, then what was Jesus talking about in John 8:47? If not, then could it be that ALL of salvation is to the glory of God and NONE of it belongs to man? In Christ, JibbyJee |