Greetings,
In Post 148 I asked:
‘Are you saying that the Beloved restores our ability to commune with Him – to become spiritually alive through ‘new birth’ – whether we wish it or not?’
In reply, you reference
Psalm 110:3. Here it is (in several versions):
‘When you go to war, your people will serve you willingly. You are arrayed in holy garments, and your strength will be renewed each day like the morning dew.’ (‘New Living Translation’).
‘Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.’ (‘English Standard Version’).
‘Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.’ (‘King James Bible’).
‘Your people will volunteer on your day of battle. In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.’ (‘Christian Standard Bible’).
‘Your people will volunteer when you call up your army. Your young people will come to you in holy splendor like dew in the early morning.’ (‘God’s Word Translation’).
‘Your soldiers are willing volunteers on your day of battle; in majestic holiness, from the womb, from the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.’ (‘International Standard Version’).
‘Your people come forward willingly on your day of battle. In majestic holiness, from the womb, from the dawn, yours was the dew of youth.’ (‘The Jewish Study Bible’).
Albert Barnes – a noted American theologian – informs us that the word rendered ‘willing’ (‘
nedâbôth’) is:
‘…in the plural number… The singular - נדבה nedâbâh - means voluntariness, spontaneousness: and hence, it comes to mean spontaneously, voluntarily, of a willing mind.
‘It is rendered a “willing offering,” in
Exodus 35: 29; “free offering,” in
Exodus 36: 3; “voluntary offering,” in
Leviticus 7: 16; “free-will offering,” in
Leviticus 22: 18,
Leviticus 22: 21,
Leviticus 22: 23;
Leviticus 23: 38;
Numbers 15: 3;
Numbers 29: 39;
Deuteronomy 12: 6,
Deuteronomy 12: 17;
Deuteronomy 16: 10;
Deuteronomy 23: 23;
2 Chronicles 31: 14;
Ezra 1: 4;
Ezra 3: 5;
Ezra 8: 28;
Psalm 119: 108; “willingly,” in
2 Chronicles 35: 8; “plentiful,” in
Psalm 68: 9; “voluntary, and voluntarily,” in
Ezekiel 46: 12; “freely,” in
Hosea 14: 4; and “free-offering,” in
Amos 4: 5.
‘It does not occur elsewhere. The idea is that of “freeness;” of voluntariness; of doing it from choice, doing it of their own will.
They did it in the exercise of freedom.
There was no compulsion; no constraint.’ (‘Barnes On The Old Testament: Notes On The Whole Bible’; my emphases).
Charles Spurgeon – who writes:
‘I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the Gospel and nothing else.’ (‘Charles Spurgeon Autobiography (2 Volume Set)’ – renders
Psalm 110:3 as:
‘Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.’
He comments:
‘Ver. 3. —Thy people shall be willing. Willing to do what?
They shall be willing while others are unwilling. The simple term "willing, "is very expressive. It denotes the beautiful condition of creatures who suffer themselves to be wrought upon, and moved, according to the will of God. They suffer God to work in them to will and to do. They are
willing to die unto all sin, they are
willing to crucify the old man, or self, in order that the new man, or Christ, may be formed in them. They are
willing to be weaned from their own thoughts and purposes, that the thoughts and purposes of God may be fulfilled in them.
They are willing to be transferred from nature's steps of human descent to God's steps of human ascent.
‘
God will beautify them with salvation, because there is nothing in them to hinder his working. They will be wise, they will be good, they will be lovely, they will be like God, for they are "
willing"; and there proceeds from God a mighty spirit, the whole tendency of which is to make his creatures like himself.’ (‘The Treasury of David IX Psalms 101-110’; my emphases).
In Post 142 you declare that ‘natural man does not wish to be saved.’
How can this be true, when there are those who are ‘willing to be weaned from their own thoughts and purposes, that the thoughts and purposes of God may be fulfilled in them’?
Blessings.
