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NASB | James 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe [that], and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror--they have seen His wrath]! [Deut 6:4; 11:13-21; Mark 12:29] |
Subject: Have we chosen freely? |
Bible Note: Yes, I believe that everyone is eligible for salvation through choice; and though He already knows what will be, we don't, which makes our trust in Him so precious. Our continued, applied trust in Him is what, I think, you were developing in your string on James, and which evidently nullifies Predestinarianism on 2 grounds. 1) If we presume we are predestined, we have become proud before God, a sin, which nullifies any genuine repentance and, therefore, any assurance of salvation. This was the catch-22 for Puritans, the problem of assurance: "How can I know I'm saved? If I think I am, I sin, so I'm not. Better just work my bloomers off." This also leads to salvation being losable, which is another trap of pride, since only God can know who's the real McCoy. 2) The faith by works of James becomes hope by works for the predestinarian: since he can't know he's saved, he falls into the Roman Catholic trap of salvation through works, which yields pride, which yields doubt, which yields...oh boy. Which leads me to ask whether Predestinarianism is really a Roman Catholic spin-off? A kind of midway between Rome and the Reformation? Works save because we can't really know. Colin |