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the truth.’ Note that ‘sanctification of the Spirit’ comesbefore and makes possible ‘belief of the truth’” (p. 73).e chief passage on the New Birth is John 3. In verses 1-8Jesus teaches Nicodemus that he must be born again or hecannot see the kingdom of God. In verse 9, Nicodemus asksJesus how this can be. In verses 10-21, Jesus answers thisquestion and explains how a man is born again, and theanswer is that he is born again by believing (Jn. 3:14-16)! isis exactly what the Calvinist says the sinner cannot do. Howcan a dead man believe, he reasons? Well, if we are going totake the “dead man” analogy literally, a dead man can’t sineither. When the Bible says the sinner is dead in trespassesand sins it means that he is separated from God’s divine lifebecause of sin. To take this analogy beyond the actualteaching of the Bible and to give it other meanings, such as toreason that since the sinner is dead in trespasses and sins hemust not be able to believe, is to move from truth to heresy.Ephesians 1:13 also gives the order of salvation. “In whomye also trusted, aer that ye heard the word of truth, thegospel of your salvation: in whom also aer that ye believed,ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” First thesinner believes and then he receives the Holy Spirit.e order of salvation is made clear in Acts 16:30-31 in theconversion of the Philippian jailer. “And brought them out,and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said,Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, andthy house.” Note that the jailer was not born again when heasked what he must do to be saved, and Paul replied that hemust believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously Paul knewthat the man could do exactly that and, that by believing hewould be born again.e order of salvation is also made clear in Ephesians2:8-9--“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that notof yourselves: it is the gi of God: Not of works, lest any manshould boast.” Faith is the means whereby we are saved; it isthe hand that reaches out to accept God’s Gi.18
What, then, does 2 essalonians 2:13 mean, when it sayswe are chosen to salvation “through sanctification of theSpirit and belief of the truth”? In light of the previouspassages, it is obvious that this verse is not stating the exactorder of things. We have already learned that belief of thetruth precedes the new birth. At the same time, from God’sperspective the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief ofthe truth occur simultaneously. ough we are saved throughfaith, that faith is exercised in the context of the Spirit of Godenlightening and drawing and convicting and finallyregenerating and sanctifying. It would therefore be humanlyimpossible to separate the “belief of the truth” from the“sanctification of the Spirit.”e Bible vs. the Calvinist doctrine of the Total Depravitye Bible teaches that man is morally corrupt (Jer. 17:9;Rom. 3:10-18) and dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) andspiritually blind (1 Cor. 2:14), but it nowhere teaches thatman cannot respond to the gospel. When I have challengedCalvinists to provide me with even one verse that says man isdead in trespasses and sins in SUCH A MANNER that hecannot even believe the gospel, they have never providedsuch a verse. One suggested Ephesians 2, but nowhere doesEphesians 2 teach such a thing. One has to read the Calvinistdoctrine of “total depravity” into the Scripture.e Bible teaches, rather, that God enables men to respond,giving them light (Jn. 1:9), drawing them (Jn. 12:32),convicting them (Jn. 16:8), calling them through the gospel(Mk. 16:15-16; 2 ess. 2:14), and commanding them torepent (Acts 17:30) and believe on Christ (Acts 16:31).e Bible vs. the Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible GraceConsider Cain. Genesis 4:6-7--“And the LORD said untoCain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenancefallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and ifthou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shallbe his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.”19
Page 2 and 3: e Calvinism DebateCopyright 2006 by
Page 4 and 5: ..it [Calvinism] must be faced beca
Page 6 and 7: A Summary of TULIP TheologyTotal De
Page 8 and 9: Irresistible GraceGod’s call to t
Page 10 and 11: either of them on Calvinism (or on
Page 12 and 13: that it is man’s duty to believe
Page 14 and 15: I am convinced that John Calvin has
Page 16 and 17: Central Errors of Calvinism1. Calvi
Page 18 and 19: objective grace and subjective grac
Page 20 and 21: How can these seemingly contradicto
Page 24 and 25: God spoke to Cain and urged him not
Page 26 and 27: Calvinism assigns preset definition
Page 28 and 29: ere are many straw man arguments th
Page 30 and 31: he is totally depraved...” (p. 13
Page 32 and 33: 18 erefore hath he mercy on whom he
Page 34 and 35: e order is clear. God calls men to
Page 36 and 37: as it is written, Behold, I lay in
Page 38 and 39: THEIR EYES HAVE THEY CLOSED; lest t
Page 40 and 41: sinners to repent and believe or pe
Page 42 and 43: Let us labour therefore to enter in
Page 44 and 45: Prayer can even change God’s mind
Page 46 and 47: “What takes the greater power (om
Page 48 and 49: Spurgeon warned about creating theo
Page 50 and 51: I am in strong disagreement with su
Page 52 and 53: “But shewed first unto them of Da
Page 54 and 55: Calvin’s Camels“Ye blind guides
Page 57 and 58: the plain teaching of God’s Word.
Page 59 and 60: JESUS WOULD BUT ISRAEL WOULD NOT --
Page 61 and 62: According to this passage, the Jews
Page 63 and 64: Jesus did not deal with men on the
Page 65 and 66: First, the universality of this pas
Page 67 and 68: 3:16), that he agrees that salvatio
Page 69 and 70: elieveth in him should not perish
Page 71 and 72: What does this verse mean? ere is n
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e “all” must be defined in cont
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disease, he describes the normal pr
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and catcheth away that which was so
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might be saved. And for this cause
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enter into that rest, lest any man
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elieved. Whatever divine election m
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and search “the scriptures daily,
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We definitely believe that God does
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Isaiah 14:27--“For the LORD of ho
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GOES BEYOND THIS AND ADDS ITS OWN U
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Genesis 6:5--“And GOD saw that th
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the unsaved sinner could do exactly
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and believing on His name. To belie
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lessings in heavenly places in Chri
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that he might be the firstborn amon
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26 And it shall come to pass, that
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e phrase “vessels of wrath fitted
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have ears to hear, and hear not: fo
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not say that they refused to bow th
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dispose” (Strong). It is used eig
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e verse, though, does not say that
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to his own purpose and grace, which
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Again, that God purchased the churc
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day” (Jn. 6:40). (Of course the C
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gospel is to be preached to all men
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What about Hyper-Calvinism?Hyper-Ca
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inward teacher. ... e Gospel is ind
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About Way of Life’s eBooksSince J
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in spite of its prevailing skeptici
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influential people. Nearly 60 video
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lessons are thorough, meaty, and ve
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the Bible. Meet the challenge of fa
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