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NASB | Romans 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 9:16 So then God's choice is not dependent on human will, nor on human effort [the totality of human striving], but on God who shows mercy [to whomever He chooses--it is His sovereign gift]. |
Bible Question:
Calvinists have used Romans 9 as one of several proof texts. Some who are not as dogmatic use Romans 10 as a reason to say that this chapter is where free will enters into the debate. I am my self wondering just how deeply this really matters. I have tried to side step the debate on being called, which to me means after a person makes the choice to become a loyal follower of Christ Jesus. It seems to me the strong Calvinist is too strong. Can someone help me understand why free will is not free will as it seems to me Calvinists are saying? justme |
Bible Answer: Hi, Justme... I don't think that you CAN sidestep the debate. You know how Paul in Romans asks those rhetorical questions along the way? Any study of Romans has failed in its exegesis unless the reader finds himself asking those very questions. They are guideposts in following the apostle's explanation of Christian theology. Furthermore, you must never take any book of the Bible and pick and choose which passages suit your own taste. Context is king. You must understand the book in its entirety, front to back. Only the many cults in our world select which passages are more significant than others. As the old divines put it, "All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them. (2 Peter 3:16; Psalms 19:7; Psalms 119:130)" Also, realize that the Doctrines of Grace are far more than the silly issues that the Remonstrants brought up in Holland. You may right use their objections to define historic Arminianism, but you will falling very short in thinking that TULIP is all there is concerning Calvinism. Read Calvin's Institutes, there is nothing that can stand beside them in such careful Biblical exegetical veracity before the King of Kings. In Him, Doc |