Last night in our Wednesday night Bible study at Rocky Springs MBC, (We're going through last winter's BTC quarterly), we studied Matthew 18.
When reading the passage before the class, I came across Matthew 18:14- Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Hmmm. It is not God's will that any of these little ones should perish. In Matthew 18, Jesus was telling the disciples to be like little children, and not to offend (to destroy the faith) of the little ones, because it is not God's will that any of them should perish. God does not want children growing up and going to Hell.
If God did not want little children growing up and going to Hell, couldn't He just unconditionally elect them, impart His irresistible grace upon them, and predestine them to Heaven? If so, why doesn't He do so? Maybe, it's because election is not unconditional. Maybe election is according to the foreknowledge of God (1 Peter 1:2). Maybe the condition of election is faith (Hebrews 11:6). Maybe election comes as God foreknows you will have faith.
So maybe unconditional election doesn't exist. If it did, God would save all people, because God is not willing that any should perish.
And maybe I should quit saying maybe.
Election is conditional. What is the condition? That you repent of your sins and trust Jesus as your personal Savior.
2 comments:
Bro. Leland,
If election is conditional upon us choosing Christ, then do we have any hope? The Bible says that there is none that calls upon God, that stirs himself up to take hold of God. So, if God's election was conditioned upon Him looking down through time and seeing that we would chose Him, he wouldn't have elected anyone, because no one would choose Him.
Isaiah 64:6-7
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
And there is NONE THAT CALLETH UPON THY NAME, THAT STIRRETH UP HIMSELF TO TAKE HOLD OF THEE..."
Why do we love Him? We love Him because He first loved us. Had he not chosen us unconditionally, we would not have called upon Him for mercy.
Psalm 14:2-3
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
Election, according to Ephesians 1:4-6, was according to the good pleasure of His will, not according to some decision we would some day make.
Bro. Dodson, My head hurts. :)
This post is a couple of years old, but I remember the point of it being that God is not willing that any should perish. If God's will is that none should perish, then those that do perish do so at their will, not God's.
You are correct that we love Him because He first loved us. And you are correct that our sin prevents us from seeking God out on our own accord.
And we both know that for a man to be saved, God must first draw him. We both agree (I'm drawing from previous conversations) that God took the first step in our salvation, and takes the first steps in the salvation of others.
Our difference is whether man has the ability to make the decision to accept or reject God's drawing. I contend that man has the ability to accept or reject God's drawing him to salvation.
I'll add this as a disclaimer. Please give me a little grace when reading some of my older posts (i.e. 1-3 years ago). I have learned much and grown since then.
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