Therefore faith is necessary. What does it say about Abraham? His faith was counted as righteousness. Without faith, there is no justification.
and without justification, there is no forgiveness of sin
and without forgiveness of sin, there is no life. (we are still left dead. seperated condemned, in adam)
Is the gift given without what is necessary for it to be received?
the gift is paid in full
one must recieve it.. or they can deny and reject it. for whatever reasons (and there are many)
Again, God will not force you to take his gift.. Nor will he keep it from you.
Why would Paul have to put it in your words? In my exegesis it shows grammatically how Paul was deliberately saying everything about salvation, including faith, is a gift from God. If God does not give us the faith as a gift, where does it come from? Paul is writing in Greek, not English.
lol.. Here we go with the church words again.
Could you have faith if
1. Jesus did make atonement for your sin?
2. If God did not show you he is real (his creation)
3. If God did not draw you to himself by whatever reason he used to draw you over time?
4. If the HS did not convict you of sin righteousness and judgment
5. If God did not help you understand the gospel
6. If God did not prove himself trustworthy, to give you confidence that what he is offering you is real. is trustworthy, He is trustworthy and he will keep his promise. to persuade you that he is trustworthy. even if your faith might be as small as a mustard seed (as the tax collector)
was it your work that got you on your knees? or was it Gods work?
In this light, faith is a gift.
But salvation is the gift being spoken of in Eph 2 what good is salvation if you have faith, but refuse to recieve? it would be nothing.
Your not saved by faith. your saved by grace.. not sure how many more times this has to be said.
The Reformers were not legalists, (in teaching) the apostles were not legalists, God is not a legalist. And yet, from the Reformers we have the five solas, one of which is faith, and one which is grace. Paul says we are saved through faith. God says Abraham's faith was counted as righteousness. Faith alone in Christian theology, simply means not by works. Without faith--- faith in the person and work of Jesus---there is no salvation. As to being saved by grace alone ----that means by no other means can anyone reconcile themselves to God unless he extends grace to an evil and wicked people and also provides the means of reconciliation. WHich he did in Christ coming to redeem us (pay a satisfaction for our release). By placing our trust in him and him alone to reconcile us we are saved by this grace (faith).
It is not stand alone for there are also places in Scripture that say "by" faith. In which case the "by" is expressing it as a means to salvation. We get there no other way.
Are you skimming my posts? Not an accusation, I catch myself doing the same things sometimes and have to go back and re-read. Breaking up posts is fine as long as the train of thought remains intact. But I asked you to not break up my sentences ( that does increase the length of a post, but my primary reason was because it removes it from it full context and either slightly or completely distorts what I was saying,
How then can he simply be trying to do things?
He has to use human terms to reveal himself. But what you describe above concerns us as image bearers. It also focuses on one attribute as though it were the supreme attribute, rather than that all his attributes are fully equal all the time. He intends to destroy the wicked. Does that fit your definition of love? Also, he does not tell us to love everyone unconditionally. This loving our enemies is not doing them any harm and being a help when they need help. (See the account of the good Samaritian.) It is not a feeling. And riddle me this: Does a mother love her children more than she loves the neighbors children? Is that prohibited by God?
Well, he doesn't tell us to do that. Did he love Israel and not love Egypt? I believe the Bible gives us the answer to that plainly.
what part of God draws is hard to understand?
yes. By these words. your showing faith alone is not earning ones salvation. so why is it taught in here that if I have faith, I have tried to save myself? (is this not synergism)
no person comes to tru saving faith in christ, that kind that justified unless the repent.
Many claim to have faith. but a claimed faith is not a real faith.
a legalist claims faith. but their faith is their works, in self. not god
A licentious claims to have faith. but they to in pride. have failed to repent. they think because they said some sinners prayer. they are magically saved and can live like the devil.
grace is in the middle.. I believe you and I both believe this grace gospel.. The difference is you think God saved you first (before justification which is before faith) I think God saved me after (after justification) which is recieved through faith