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NASB | John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 6:37 "All that My Father gives Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, never reject anyone who follows Me]. |
Subject: Once Save; Always Saved? |
Bible Note: Zach: A great deal of the examples you use here are indeed examples of really bad theology. "Easy believism" is the root cause of those examples you gave. However, I do disagree with some of the conclusions in your post. For example, you wrote: "We need to answer the question: Was the atonement by Christ made to change thenature of sin, and thus save a man in his sin, or to change the nature of man and thus save him by separating him from his sin?" My answer is "neither." The atonement served to be the payment of sins for all who trust in Christ. The atonement itself neither changed my nature (making me more righteous) nor the nature of sin (making sin less "sinful"). The atonement was the Son of God taking upon Himself the punishment for my sins. You write: "God would not command all men to do something that all men were unable to do." Not true. God commands us to keep his moral law perfectly. No one does that, and Christ is the only one who ever has. You wrote: "repentance is man's work, although the goodness of God leads you to repentance. God will not repent for man." God will not repent for man, but God causes repentance: "He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." --Acts 5:31 'When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."' --Acts 11:18 "The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." --1 Timothy 2:24-26 "We were provisionally saved at Calvary, but not actually and personally. The death of Christ was an expiation for all men, but an acquittal for none." So what does the term "expiation" mean? And it isn't an aquittal. "Acquittal" means that the individual actually is not guilty. Justification is a declaration of righteousness, not the transformation of someone into a righteous being. That is the process of sanctification. Now it is perfectly biblical to say that those who are truly saved will truly persevere. However, salvation is not EVER conditioned upon our obedience (because we still offend our just God almost moment-by-moment); rather, our perseverance in the faith, and our obedience (however imperfect it may be) is a RESULT of true justification. --Joe! |