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NASB | Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 2:3 Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful self], indulging the desires of human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God's] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind]. |
Subject: "objects of wrath" |
Bible Note: Dear Colin, There are certain benefits in having a theology that has been alive for 500 years...most of the questions regarding it's orthodoxy have already been asked and answered. It has been tested under fire and has withstood the test. Of course Reformed theology is not considered infallible by any of it's proponants (after all it is the work of fallible men) nevertheless, I have found it to be of immense value in my own pursuit of knowing God. As to the concerns regarding your percieved flaws, I would be happy to address them to the best of my ability (I am a relative neophyte so bear that in mind, Reformer Joe would do a better job than this feeble saint). "I do see how you can argue for predestinarianism from the scriptures, but Calvinism evidently fails in its making square the infinite roundness of love, which by its Godly nature necesitates freedom and choice." We love Him because He first loved us. That sounds pretty round to me :-). But what...you may ask...about those who did not come to love Christ? Did'nt He love them as well? Good question! I'm glad I asked it for you (I've been posting far too much lately...I'm getting silly). Seriously...In a sense, God loves all His creatures. But the love He has for those He has chosen is special. Because of time constraints I will post a response from Athur Pink on the subject of God's soveriegty in love. God is Sovereign in the exercise of His love. Ah! that is a hard saying, who then can receive it? It is written, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from Heaven" (John 3:27). When we say that God is Sovereign in the exercise of His love, we mean that He loves whom He chooses. God does not love everybody*; if He did, He would love the Devil. Why does not God love the Devil? Because there is nothing in him to love; because there is nothing in him to attract the heart of God. Nor is there anything to attract God's love in any of the fallen sons of Adam, for all of them are, by nature, "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). If then there is nothing in any member of the human race to attract God's love, *John 3:16 will be examined later. and if, notwithstanding, He does love some, then it necessarily follows that the cause of His love must be found in Himself, which is only another way of saying that the exercise of God's love towards the fallen sons of men is according to His own good pleasure. In the final analysis, the exercise of God's love must he traced back to His Sovereignty or, otherwise, He would love by rule; and if He loved by rule, then is He under a law of love, and if He is under a law of love then is He not supreme, but is Himself ruled by law. "But," it may be asked, "Surely you do not deny that God loves the entire human family?" We reply, it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:13). If then God loved Jacob and hated Esau, and that before they were born or had done either good or evil, then the reason for His love was not in them, but in Himself. That the exercise of God's love is according to His own Sovereign pleasure is also clear from the language of Ephesians 1:3-5, where we read, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." It was "in love" that God the Father predestined His chosen ones unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, "according"-according to what? According to some excellency He discovered in them? No. What then? According to what He foresaw they would become? No; mark carefully the inspired answer-"According to the good pleasure of His will." We are not unmindful of the fact that men have invented the distinction between God's love of complacency and His love of compassion, but this is an invention pure and simple. Scripture terms the latter God's "pity" (see Matt. 18:33), and "He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil" (Luke 6:35)! |