old man joe
Guest
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:11 pm Post subject: Grace " freely bestowed " Eph.1:6 |
 |
|
in Eph. 1:3-12 and 2:1-22 the Apostle Paul describes with the
theological perfection of words given him by the Holy Spirit which
constitute the " strong meat " of the Word of God concerning Divine
selection of who will be saved and who will be passed by for
salvation, and why.
since Paul is writing to believers it is a certainty that the
unbeliever can not understand any of the Word of God since to him it
is but " foolishness " ( 1 Cor. 2:14 ) and neither can he understand
the Word of God unless he is first born from above. Jn. 3:3.
Paul describes the spiritual condition of his readers in chapter
2:1-3 where their pre-regenerate condition was that of being mere
atheists ( ' athehos '... translated " without God " in v. 12 )... cut
off from any hope of anything more than an eternity in the Lake of
Fire for their sins.
his readers were undoubtedly speechless except to give all of the
glory and thanks to God for washing away their sins by the blood of
Christ since unless God so chooses who will be saved, that person
would surely be passed by for salvation continuing on living the life
of sin he is accustomed to, all the while thinking the preaching of
the cross is indeed, foolishness.
Paul goes on to say in chapter one that God does the choosing, not
man, and that this choice was made before He created the all things.
the good works of man had no part in this choice which God made
because that would give the glory to man and not Christ... the Bible
is replete with the teaching man does not choose Christ, as in Jn.
15:16 and Jn. 1:12,13; as well as here in Eph. 1:4.
the Holy Spirit says through Paul that the why some are saved is to
be found in the " good pleasure of His will " and " to the praise of
the glory of Hid grace "... and most assuredly this act of God is the
cause of making us, the elect, accepted in Christ, and not the other
way around whereas will worshipers love to say " I accepted Jesus. "
such makes salvation conditional... which is completely contrary to
Holy Scripture which declare plainly that the grace of God which
pardons sinners through Messiah Jesus is " freely bestowed. "
" bestowed freely " does not imply in any way that one earns grace
by filling conditions. if there were conditions to be filled by man
then salvation is by good deeds smartly done... which leaves out
everyone dying on the operating table; aborted fetuses; the mentally
impaired and so on.
one must also tear out those pages of Holy Scripture which speak of
the four Bible prophets saved as fetuses because such does not agree
with their position that salvation is by good and smart deeds. these
fetuses certainly weren't going to church on Saturdays; keeping the 10
Commandments; speaking in tongues nor were saved by water baptism.
one must also call Jesus Christ a liar since He taught unconditional
election Himself in Luke chapter four... to call God a liar is to sign
ones own death warrant... but that is what the Lake of Fire is for and
such who deny the plain teaching of Scripture will fill it. |
|
