No respecter of Persons...

[Bruiser]

When a Provisionist refutes Calvinism with, "God is no respecter of Persons", ask him...

"Since God is no respecter of Persons, why is there anything else other than Calvinism?"...


Apologetics at it's best

 

[Bruiser]

When a Provisionist refutes Calvinism with, "God is no respecter of Persons", ask him...

"Since God is no respecter of Persons, why is there anything else other than Calvinism?"...


Apologetics at it's best

"God is no respecter of Persons", is Calvinism. It's Unconditional Election...

 

[Bruiser]

This is the point that needs to be the light bulb moment. That's Election without God having any respect for the person...

 

[makesends]

This is the point that needs to be the light bulb moment. That's Election without God having any respect for the person...

"Oh, I KNOW that can't be true. That denies God's LOVE."

 

[fastfredy0]

That's Election without God having any respect for the person...

My understanding is that God respects/appreciates the work He did (potter) on the person (clay). God does not respect the work the person (clay) did on himself.

 

[Bruiser]

I posted my OP on the Soteriology 101 Forum; they hate it. They say Unconditional Election shows God's partially for the Chosen. I said you don't get it, he shows partiality after Election; but not before. Justification through Faith shows Respect for the person; but that's AFTER Election...

 

[fastfredy0]

he [God] shows partiality after Election; but not before.

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

When we were NOTHING, God favored His elect. Since we were NOTHING, there was nothing in us for God to show favoritism to. Since God is immutable, there is nothing we can do to change is attitude towards us. God favors His works, not ours and He favored us eternally.
Aside: Since our "election" is an eternal selection a before/after description of election is not applicable.

 

[Bruiser]

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

When we were NOTHING, God favored His elect. Since we were NOTHING, there was nothing in us for God to show favoritism to. Since God is immutable, there is nothing we can do to change is attitude towards us. God favors His works, not ours and He favored us eternally.
Aside: Since our "election" is an eternal selection a before/after description of election is not applicable.

If a before and after scenario is irrelevant, then our good matters regarding Election; such as our Justification through Faith. It's in the corner of God's eye...

But No, Election takes place BEFORE we've done good or bad. It has to matter, or Provisionists are right...

Aside: There was something in us; Original Sin. Infralapsarianism. Before we've done good or bad, but after Adam did bad...

 

[Arial]

When a Provisionist refutes Calvinism with, "God is no respecter of Persons", ask him...

"Since God is no respecter of Persons, why is there anything else other than Calvinism?"...


Apologetics at it's best

To begin with, when someone uses the Scripture that God is no respecter of persons to refute Calvinism, they are misusing that verse(s). The "no respecter of persons" is dealing. not with election, but with Jew and Gentile. And by extension nations, rich or poor, worldly status, male or female, ethnicity.

 

[makesends]

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

When we were NOTHING, God favored His elect. Since we were NOTHING, there was nothing in us for God to show favoritism to. Since God is immutable, there is nothing we can do to change is attitude towards us. God favors His works, not ours and He favored us eternally.
Aside: Since our "election" is an eternal selection a before/after description of election is not applicable.

I agree, but I think his intentions toward the elect are more specific than most are willing to admit. While we have nothing endemic to ourselves to consider worthy of his favor, we ARE specifically made, determined by God, predestined, to be that exact member of the Body of Christ for which he made us. We are not generic blank slates, but made for his very particular purpose (end result) and purposes (how he is 'producing' us, to include our interactions with each other, with all creation and with Him). No one member precisely like another, and none of them random, but the complete and perfect whole.

To me, the notion that he chose us from a pool of potentials makes God look rather stupid, and lends credibility to the accusation we have repeatedly heard, that God chooses arbitrarily --even capriciously-- if the Reformed are right. God is VERY particular. I don't see how anyone can look at history and decide he is not; I particularly don't understand how anyone who believes Eph 2:8,9 can say that there must be something to the person, perhaps their freewill choice, that makes them worthy in God's eyes to save. Sorry, I'm getting wound up.