Salvation, page 7

Provision, election, atonement, faith, security. Most of the argument lives here.

121 questions answered, showing 13 on page 7 of 7. About this doctrine · All topics

Whosoever WillWhat is the difference between justification and sanctification?Justification is God declaring a believer righteous the moment he trusts Christ, a finished legal act (Rom 5:1). Sanctification is God making him holy over a lifetime, an ongoing process (1 Thess 4:3). One is instant and complete; the other is gradual.
With Chuck SmithWhat is the first gospel promise in Genesis 3:15?Chuck Smith called it "God's promise back at the beginning of the sorrows and the calamity from sin": the woman's seed would bruise the serpent's head, "to destroy Satan's power, the authority of Satan." The promise was spoken in the curse itself: "it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). Read Chuck on Genesis 3:15 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillWhat is the gospel? What is the good news of Jesus Christ?The gospel is the good news that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Cor 15:3-4), so that whosoever believes on Him is forgiven and given eternal life. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16).
Whosoever WillWhat must I do to be saved? How can I be saved?"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). Salvation is receiving, by faith, the finished work of Christ who died for your sins and rose again (1 Cor 15:3-4).
Whosoever WillWhere does Paul get the potter and the clay quotation in Romans 9:20?Whosoever Will, There Is No Calvinist Potter in the Bible: People treat that as Paul's own line. It is not. It is a quotation, and I can show you the exact source. The opening of Romans 9:20 is six words lifted straight out of the Greek of Isaiah 29:16: mē erei to plasma tō plasanti (μὴ ἐρεῖ τὸ πλάσμα τῷ πλάσαντι), the thing formed and the one who formed it. Then Paul recasts the clay's question. Isaiah's clay says “he made me not.” Paul's says “why hast thou made me thus?” He took a text about men hiding from God and turned its line into the exact objection he was answering at 9:19. That is not sloppiness. That is design. And those are Isaiah 29's words. They are not the words of Isaiah 45, which people often assume is the source. Isaiah 45 says clay and potter. Paul says thing-formed and former, which is Isaiah 29. Scripture, King James Version: Romans 9:20, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"; Isaiah 29:16, "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?".
Whosoever WillWho was hell prepared for? What does Matthew 25:41 mean by 'prepared for the devil and his angels'?Whosoever Will, Jesus Never Told a Calvinist Parable: The kingdom was prepared for you. The fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. Not for people. Read the two verses side by side, because the difference is exact, and it sits inside the very parable quoted for double predestination, and it breaks exactly where double predestination needs it to hold. Two destinations were furnished before the foundation of the world. Only one of them was furnished for human beings. No man was made for hell. The people who arrive there arrive at a place that was never prepared for them, because they refused the place that was. In the parables, prepared-before-the-foundation language attaches to destinations, and only one destination was prepared for men. It never attaches to a roster of names. A God who had reprobated individuals from eternity had the perfect sentence available in verse 41, “prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” the mirror of verse 34. He broke the mirror instead. That broken mirror is one of the strongest statements against reprobation in the Gospels, and it has been sitting inside Matthew 25 the whole time. Scripture, King James Version: Matthew 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:".
With Chuck SmithWhy did God give us free will?Chuck Smith's answer was love: "in order to receive meaningful love it has to be a free will involved. You cannot be a robot." God sets the choice before His people and asks for it: "therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). Read Chuck on Job 2:4 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillWhy did God shut the door of Noah's ark?Whosoever Will, Broken Open: Not several. One (Genesis 6:16). It stood open the entire time Noah built, and he built for a very long time, in front of an audience, while preaching righteousness to people who watched him work and did not come. Anyone could have walked up that ramp. The invitation was as wide as the whole world's population and the terms were absurdly simple: come inside. Then Genesis 7:16 says something that should make you sit very still. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. The door had been open for decades. God closed it Himself. Not Noah. And on the far side of that door, the world went on with its business for seven more days before the deep broke open. The invitation was real. The deadline was also real. Both of those are true at once, and the entire New Testament stands on that pairing. Scripture, King James Version: Genesis 6:16, "A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it."; Genesis 7:16, "And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.".
With Chuck SmithWhy did Jesus have to die? Was there no other way?Chuck Smith read Gethsemane as the answer: the cup "did not pass from Him," which "indicates that there is only one way by which salvation or redemption for man is possible." Jesus asked, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39), and then drank it. Read Chuck on Hebrews 5:7 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillWhy does God say sins that are red like crimson will be white as snow? (Isaiah 1:18)"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isa 1:18). The word for "crimson" there is tola'ath, the crushed-worm dye, one of the most colorfast, hardest-to-remove colors the ancient world knew. The one stain no work of man could wash out is lifted by the blood of the crushed Lamb.
With Chuck SmithWhy hasn't Jesus come back yet?Chuck Smith's answer was the patience of God: "the real delay in the return of Jesus Christ is just God's unwillingness that men should perish." Peter gives the same reason: "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Read Chuck on 2 Peter 3:9 in the reader. Chuck Smith commentary used by permission of The Word For Today.
With Chuck SmithWhy is the cross offensive?Chuck Smith, Galatians Study Guide, Galatians 5: Righteousness by Faith: The cross offends people, because when Christ sacrificed Himself for the sins of every person He became the only way to God. People are bothered by the narrowness of one way; they prefer to think that man can somehow effect his salvation through a wide choice of roads to God. Scripture, King James Version: Galatians 5:11, "And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.". Study notes condensed from his teaching by The Word For Today. From Chuck Smith's books, used by permission of The Word For Today.
Whosoever WillWhy would Christ die for people he knows will refuse him?Because He does the same on every other page. He stretched out His hands all day to a gainsaying people, and sent Ezekiel to a house He said would not hear. And they are not goats when He dies for them: in Scripture goats is never a name for the non-elect from eternity.