Anonymous asked in the comments...
If faith is a gift of God, and faith is a requirement for salvation, only GodGood question! I have run across it many times in witnessing.
saves. If I believe, baptized or not, it's because he's given me the faith to
believe. It's all up to Him.Or, is that wrong?
The common thought of faith being the gift comes from Ephesians 2:8-9 which reads "8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast"
Grammatically, through faith is a prepositional phrase modifying how you have been saved. The "it" is actually referring to the grace that saves you. The sentence could be read "For (by grace through faith) you have been saved, it is the gift of God..."
God is not standing up in heaven saying "I pick Sally and Mark and Becca and Rachel and ... to be saved and everyone else can go to hell, because *I* didn't die for the *whole* world."
There are too many verses that say He died for all. Too many that say it is our choice...
Ez. 18:23 says God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, (2 Peter 3:9 says He doesn't wish for any to perish)
Rev 22:17 says that anyone who wishes to take the water of life without cost may, whereas Matt 23:37 says that He wanted to gather up His people like a hen gathers her chicks but they were un-willing.
I think that people will also single out John 6:44 which says "44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." BUT if you read the next verse, it explains vs. 44 in that God draws through hearing and learning what has been taught from the Father either through His disciples or His word--vs. 45 "“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me."
When you, me, or anyone else study the bible, we need to remember one main point. God will never contridict Himself. Yes, there may be scribal errors from the copying over and over the bible over the past couple thousaind years, but God's meaning is inrefutable. Now, knowing that, we have to take what is black and white (like Christ dying for all people and all sin (Romans says many times Christ died "once for all.") and weigh it against what I would call "grey" or "cloudy" spots in the text. Because in the end it all fits together like a beautiful puzzle.
I hope this helps your question and you won't ever be afraid to ask more!
11 comments:
"....we need to remember one main point."....
My mind is going off on a tangent when reading this response .
Why does one read and study God's Word?
I don't understand your question or what point you are trying to make by asking it.
I can't say why someone else reads the Bible. I suppose there are many reasons. If I had to pick one thing as my answer it would be: to see what God has to say in regards to what I want to know. I suppose if I read something and I don't really want to know what He said, I could just ignore what I read or I could twist it to agree with what I already believe or *think* He says. Not a good place to be.
Maybe I should've said "we need to remember this main (or big?) point"... Maybe that would've been better?
Quote: "There are too many verses that say He died for all. Too many that say it is our choice..."
The Bible says its not our choice:
John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you"
John 1:13 "children born not of natural descent, NOR OF HUMAN DECISION or a husband's will, but born of God."
"I can't say why someone else reads the Bible."
thought you would write about Jesus?
John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you"
This is speaking directly to the 12 disciples. Context is important. To be a discpile, you must first be His child, if you apply it to us today.
John 1:13 "children born not of natural descent, NOR OF HUMAN DECISION or a husband's will, but born of God."
Here you take have of the sentence and say it says what you want it to say. The definition for sentence is "a group of words that express a complete thought". So, if you only take half the sentence, you have the author's INCOMPLETE thought. The first half of the sentence, vs. 12, says "But as many as RECEIVED Him, to THEM He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name."
NOW vs. 13 is decribing those who recieved Him, that they after recieving Him are born not of blood, but of God...
As a side note, the ones who believe, nothing about baptism. And how did they recieve Him? By believing...
"I can't say why someone else reads the Bible."
thought you would write about Jesus?
Why do we read the Bible = Jesus says
"Search the scriptures;for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John5:39
Jesus' response to John's question - -Luke7:19-23
Paul instructs Timothy --
IITimothy3:15
Great comments! I hadn't thought of that verse. I found interesting that vs. 30 in John 5, said that he went to people and they were unwilling to come to Him to have eternal life--not exactly God picking people to be saved, eh?
Same with the verse in II Tim. 3:15 pointing that we know of the scripture from childhood, again also, saying salvation is through faith (not water baptism or works)
Thanks again for your comments.
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