tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223255619737203247.post3054099833561208041..comments2023-11-02T01:05:01.043-07:00Comments on Litl-Luther: Grace & InabilityLitl-Lutherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790787494599438994noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223255619737203247.post-77830719688836628522008-03-05T19:22:00.000-08:002008-03-05T19:22:00.000-08:00Wow Bogi! Thank you so much. I'm humbled. You are ...Wow Bogi! Thank you so much. I'm humbled. You are too thoughtful.<BR/><BR/>I really want to go on a crusade in the Church to get our understanding of grace to be broadened beyond just “unmerited favor” (which of course I love) but that grace would also be defined as a transforming work of God that raises us from the dead (Eph 2:5).Litl-Lutherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09790787494599438994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223255619737203247.post-37053233420395088242008-03-05T09:39:00.000-08:002008-03-05T09:39:00.000-08:00Wow! This is great.I love how you pull Paul's use ...Wow! This is great.<BR/><BR/>I love how you pull Paul's use of the concept of being dead into the picture of salvation. Dead guys aren't really trying to do much of anything, and certainly can't take credit for their re-birth when it happens.<BR/><BR/>I've often struggled with this verse in terms of what is God doing? Is it by grace or faith, your drawing out the Greek and then interpreting it's function is brilliant. Thank you. The issue is settled for me.<BR/><BR/>And, perhaps most important of all, I am now more motivated than before to actively draw people to Christ, knowing that they are incapable of such a thing on their own. I can see how God purposes to use us to do what they cannot do for themselves. Again, my thanks.<BR/><BR/>I found your work here thoroughly inspirational.Bogihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17682746232520061387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223255619737203247.post-4487369149357606222008-02-24T00:44:00.000-08:002008-02-24T00:44:00.000-08:00Susan, more than any other book besides the Bible,...Susan, more than any other book besides the Bible, Martin Luther's book "Bondage of the Will" had the most impact on my theology. If anyone made me Reformed or a ‘Calvinist’, it certainly wasn’t Calvin. It was Paul in Romans chapter nine AND Luther’s book. Luther laid out every argument that could possibly be made in support of freewill, and then crushed them all. Freewill does not exist since the Fall for the unregenerate. Sure, people make decisions all the time, but they can only make decisions that accord with their nature. That’s why people will not accept Christ unless God regenerates them first (i.e. makes them alive (Eph 2:1), born again). Regeneration comes before faith. Perhaps freewill, like in Adam, is restored to the believer. But the unbeliever has an enslaved will. It is not free in the sense that it can move God-ward without a first work of God in that person’s life.<BR/><BR/>I know there are tough texts to deal with, though many are not so tough. For example, everyone quotes 2 Peter 3:9 as a proof text: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” But it is honestly absurd to think that text is talking about anyone other than Christians. The context is that Peter is writing to the church and he says to God’s people that God is longsuffering toward “us”. He is not willing that any Christian should perish. It is a text to give assurance to the believer. It says nothing of the unbeliever. Nevertheless, there are some other difficult texts to deal with. I suppose there will always be some tension, like so many other topics of Scripture, but that does not discount the fact that the clear teaching of Scripture is that our salvation is completely by God alone from beginning to end. Yes. This truth raises some difficult questions regarding those who never come to faith, but that gives us no right to take away some of the credit of our salvation which God alone deserves. And that is all that the freewill arguments to is take a little credit away from God and give it to us. However, the reality is man contributes nothing to his salvation—not his faith, nor his works but only his sin.Litl-Lutherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09790787494599438994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5223255619737203247.post-40009015952454968272008-02-23T23:39:00.000-08:002008-02-23T23:39:00.000-08:00have lost the comment I put in - but I think I ask...have lost the comment I put in - but I think I asked how you reconcile God's total work in salvation with the fact that He says that He desires that none should perish and free will - such as Adam and Eve had pre-sin<BR/><BR/>I do love a good Greek lesson!Halfmom, AKA, Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03545176965972986964noreply@blogger.com