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Does Jesus save or merely make savable?
The perfection of Christ’s work of salvation—from the reality of God’s eternal decree, the deadness of man in sin, the effectiveness of His substitutionary death in behalf of the elect, to the application in time by the Spirit of God—is the sole and only basis of any consistent doctrine of perseverance or “eternal security.” Every system that reduces the work of Christ to the hypothetical level must abandon the solid rock of assurance that comes only from recognizing His awesome power. Reduce Jesus to the role of making us “savable” and you no longer have the slightest reason to believe that, once a person is in Christ, they will remain there. But strip man of his pretended autonomy, recognize his utter dependence and God’s unparalleled power, and the truth of the eternal nature of Christ’s saving work (and its inability to fail) will find a firm and necessary foundation. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness: He will never fail to do the Father’s will, and that is my hope (John 6:38–39).
(Dr. James White - Debating Calvinism, p. 406)
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Comments
Yes, I have heard of folks who try to believe in Total Depravity and then say "But God only enables us to make a choice, He doesn't exercise Irresistible Grace." It is an attempt to fit Calvinism with the Arminian mode of "free will" and it just doesn't work.
This is a great quote.
Thanks,
Albert Shepherd
The Aspiring Theologian
Posted by: The Aspiring Theologian | October 26, 2006 03:03 PM
I have question that I can't seem to find in the Bible. I'm doing a study on the 1ts commandment and have gotten to "love the Lord your God with all your soul". Soon I was over my head and have had to for a short time go in a different direction in order to figure out how to love Him with all my soul. My question is: when we are saved and we become new creations in Christ is it our souls that are now perfect and our bodies, minds, and hearts that are being sanctified? Do we have perfect souls right now?
Posted by: sarah | October 28, 2006 08:52 PM
Isaiah 55:10-11 promises us this, "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
How utterly useless this promise is when it is brought into view of "free will" and universal redemption. If it were Christ's intention to save every human, how poorly disappointed He must be.
Posted by: Justin Braton | October 29, 2006 07:06 PM