The Calvinism Debate - Way of Life Literature

and believing on His name. To believe and receive is an act ofthe will. What John 1:13 means is that the new birth is not amatter of man saving himself by his own will and works.Salvation is a miracle of God’s power. See 1 Peter 1:3. It is notsomething that man can work up and perform by his ownwill. It is God who shines light into the soul and gives lifeunto the dead and imparts the Holy Spirit. at salvation isnot by man’s will but by God’s does not mean that mancannot believe in Christ until he is irresistibly drawn andconverted. In fact, this passage refutes Calvinism by teachingthat salvation is given to those who believe on Christ.1 Peter 1:2--“Elect according to the foreknowledge ofGod the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, untoobedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”is verse says God’s election is based on Hisforeknowledge. e standard Calvinist position onforeknowledge is basically to do away with it by making it thesame as forewill, doing away completely with the possibilitythat God’s election could have anything to do with what Heforesees. But the word that Peter uses for “foreknowledge” is aword that means simply that God foreknew what wouldhappen. It is the Greek word “prognosis,” which is a word stillused commonly in English. When a doctor gives theprognosis of a disease, he describes the normal progression ofthe disease. He basically is able to tell the future because heknows beforehand what will happen. e doctrine of“foreknowledge,” if not redefined by Calvinism, goes a longway, though not all of the way, toward explaining the mysteryof how God could elect, but man could choose. ere isdoubtless more to election than foreknowledge and we do notclaim to be able to explain these things fully, but the factremains that God’s Word teaches us that foreknowledge isinvolved and it cannot be redefined to mean “foreordination.”In his attempt to redefine “foreknowledge” and to mold itinto “foreordination,” the Calvinist commonly uses Acts 2:23,93