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NASB | 1 Corinthians 2:14 ¶ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 2:14 ¶ But the natural [unbelieving] man does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to him; and he is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters]. |
Subject: How can anyone be saved? |
Bible Note: A Different View ....................................... Dear John, I know that your question was not addressed to me, but when I read it, I had a thought that I really wanted to share with you. The Calvinist perspective often gets hung up on the idea that if a human has to “accept” God’s free gift of salvation, then it takes away from the sovreignity of God or the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice. I do not believe that this hang up is neccessary. ....................................... Rather than seeing Christ’s sacrifice to be insufficient, and perceiving that as a bad thing, why not look at it as a grace of God instead. Here’s what I mean. God is almighty, and He COULD have made Christ’s death on the cross completely sufficient for salvation regardless of how any particular human responded to it. God could have said that because Christ died for the sins of the world then Tom over here is going to believe in Me and be saved no matter what Tom’s personal choice would have been. Meanwhile I will leave Jerry over there unable to believe in Me, and Jerry will go to hell, regardless of what his personal choice would have been. In my understanding this is the Calvinist perspective. My point is that God had the ability and COULD have set things up that way. ....................................... However, I believe that instead God chose to have Christ’s death on the cross be sufficient to take away the sins of anyone who accepted that forgiveness. This does not take away from God’s sovereignity at all. It is not that God was unable to save people without their “help” (even using the Calvinist perspective that simply accepting a gift is “help” or “work”). Instead it is that God chose to have salvation work that way. He could have set it up either way; He is in total control. Arminians just believe that He set things up to allow His creation to truly choose whether to love God and have a relationship with Him or not. |