Tag: calvinism
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What About Human Responsibility?
Jesus has so far affirmed Pharisee soteriology. God first loves an individual. In response to God’s love, the individual cares to keep God’s Law. If a person keeps God’s Law, that person is righteous. God’s love is what brought the person into righteousness (i.e. saved the person). When the person kept the Law, that was…
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Seeing the Kingdom of Heaven
Have you ever seen God? Some of you will answer by telling me how you see God working or how you see God in nature or people. Those things are not God Himself. I will venture to guess that you have never seen God. Yet, we believe He is. A vast majority of people on…
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Jesus as Prophet and The Personal Salvation Debate Among Jews in the First Century
In these notes, I first show the point of John 3:1-2 by offering a biblical apologetic for Jesus as having the authority of a prophet to reveal new revelation. Then, I explore the theological environment of First Century Judea in order to provide historical context for Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus. It is no surprise that…
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On Salvation and Reprobation
From the debates between Paul and the Gnostics through the ancient dialogue between Augustine and Pelagius to the exchanges between Luther and Erasmus or Calvin’s disciples and those of Arminius to the more modern upheaval between the New Calvinists and Free Willists, the doctrine of election has dominated Christian discussion. Election is the doctrine that…
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The Scourge of Calvinism Pt. 2- Total Depravity vs Free Will
I am looking at the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism because I have been asked to. From the outset, I want to remind my brothers and sisters in Christ that it is important for us to remain humble, not categorically making enemies of others based on whatever differences we perceive there to be in our…
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The Scourge of Calvinism: Pt. 1 The Unnecessary Conflict
What is Calvinism, and why should we be worried? I want to take a few weeks and talk about the doctrines of grace because I have been asked to. I very often hear people looking for ways to disprove Calvinism categorically. When people try to disprove Calvinism, I normally will ask five questions. 1. Do…
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Daily Devotional: Ephesians 2:1-10
After praying that the saints may grow in all wisdom and knowledge, that their eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, Paul writes of their wretchedness. They were, past tense because they are not in Christ, dead in their trespasses and sins. When we speak of our wretched estate and that of those in our…
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Daily Devotional: Romans 16:16-27
Paul encourages Greek Christians in Rome to greet one another with a holy kiss and tells them that the churches outside of Rome greet them as brothers and sisters. While I understand the need to teach teenagers to side-hug and the reservation adults have when interacting with one-another, we learn in Scripture that the Christian…
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Daily Devotional: Romans 9:22-33
Paul has established that God predestined an elect group of people before they were born from among the Jews and gentiles. As the creator, He has a right to choose and justify a people for Himself. As the created, we have no rights over our own bodies or souls. Salvation (justification) is, therefore, by grace…
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1689: Human Nature and the 1924 Downgrade
What we believe about the work of God, particularly in salvation, depends upon our view of ourselves. If we believe ourselves capable and free, we will also believe a synergistic gospel. If we believe ourselves captive to our own natures, we will also believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. The BFM…