Osgiliath,
That is NOT scriptural. Show me where the Scriptures say Jesus Christ's work on the Cross was only a potential salvation, not an actual one. Chapters and verses? You can't, because it is nothing but man's imaginary religious fables. Man insists on being "CO-SAVIOR", rather than giving Christ ALL of the glory!
YOu are misunderstanding what I have stated.
Christ's death on the Cross did in fact save you, no potential, but Christ did not save you as an individual. He saved the world, mankind from death through His Incarnation. It is not just scripturally impossible to save you individually from the Cross it is a theological impssibility. Christ assumed our mortal human nature. This natue is consubstantial with every single human being. When Christ arose from the dead, He in fact, saved every single soul from death. This is the solution to the fall. Man cannot save himself from the fall.
The texts for that start with Gen 3:15, Gen 3:19, Rom 11:32, Rom 5:18, Rom 5:12, Rom 3:24, I Cor 15:13-23, II Cor 5:18-19, Col 1:20, Heb 2:12-16, I John 3:8, John 4:42, I John 4:14, Acts 24:15, Rev 20:12-13.
This salvation is all of God. It is God's great gift of mercy to mankind. It is a gift all men will recieve. YOu cannot do anything to effect it, or affect it in any way.
However, our individual salvation, the relationship that God calls all men to enter which is the purpose of our very existance and why Christ saved the world from satan, from death, was to have a personal relationship.
that relationship constitutes your individual salvation. YOu can either accept God's call to be in a relationship with Him or reject Him. The difference is heaven or hell. Very simple scriptural truth. II Cor 5:17 tells us directly that we are co-reconcilers with Christ.
How do the Scriptures say we become converted?
"Or despise you the riches of HIS goodness ["His goodness;" not our free will] and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God LEADS [God's 'leading' is the CAUSE] you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4).
Where is "man's will" in this statement? "God LEADS…" is the cause of repentance, not man's fabled 'free will.'
You have even missed the concept of our salvation through faith. God leads all men to repentance. It is specifically our free will that determines if one will accept that call or reject it. God cannot make you believe, no more than satan can make you sin. It is ONLY you that makes the choices. It is why you will be judged for what you do.
"No man CAN come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw [Gk: 'drag'] him: and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44).
This verse is plain: No man CAN…come to Christ of HIS OWN will. It is the Father "dragging" him that is the cause of one coming to Christ, not his own supposed free will.
YOu are correct. God is the initiator, from creating us, savings us from death, giving all men all the gifts we need to find Him. God is making sure that no man will have an excuse that He did not have the chance to know Him. Man actually needs to actively reject God. Nothing is passive. Which is again why man will be judged, not God. The HOly Spirit is calling all men to repentance, because God desires that all come to know HIm.
"You have not chosen Me, but I HAVE CHOSEN YOU…" (John 15:16).
"I have CHOSEN you…" is the CAUSE and it is by Christ's will, not man's will.
this verse does not help your view either. This verse is Jesus, the whole section from vs 1-17, is specifically for the disciples.
"We are justified by the faith of Christ." (Galatians 2:16)
this is the first text that is relevant to the topic. [/quote] the correct wording is faith in Jesus Christ. Which is what permits anyone to enter into the Body of Christ, it is called justification by faith. That is the relationship by which you as an individual will be saved. This relationship determines whether one will spend enternity with God or apart from Him.
We are saved by the committment of both. God will ONLY save you through faith as long as you believe. As long as you follow HIm, as long as you deny yourself and take up your cross to believe, follow Him and remain faithful and endure to the end will you inherit eternal life with HIm.
"I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without ME YE CAN DO NOTHING" (John 15:5).
According to God's Word, what is it that we can do by our own will? Answer: "NOTHING." It is Christ "IN him" that brings forth much fruit. Man does not bring forth much fruit by his fabled free will.
Free will is written all over this text. It says in my Bible and as you wrote it, "he that abides in me". It never says God forces or manipulates you to abide in Him. Never does it even imply that God is doing the believing, the following, the seeing, the obedience. That is all in your hands, not his.
"And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11).
Is this man's part in his own salvation? Must man confess that Jesus Christ is his Lord by his OWN FREE WILL, or it will have no real meaning? Is that how this confession is made? Answer: "…no man can say [with his fabled free will] that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3).
Do we profess Jesus as our Lord by our own will or by the Holy Spirit? "By the Holy Spirit" is the cause. Our own will is not the cause of our calling Jesus "Lord."
God specifically created you to make that choice. He gave you a will, a rational soul to use. God does not do your will for you. Again, it is why you will be jduged, not God. If God was the initiator of your faith, then all men would also be saved individually. No man would be in hell, since God desires that all men come to know Him. He desires that none perish.
"But the natural man [still being carnal-minded] receives not the things of the SPIRIT of God: neither CAN HE know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
God's word tells us that the natural, carnal mind of man, [all mankind—the human race], cannot love or obey God. For it: "receives not the things of the spirit," "neither is it ABLE."
The natural man cannot even make a decision to SEEK God, much less believe and have faith in Christ:
I think you should check the context again. This text is being directed at those who have not yet believed and thus cannot understand the fruits of the spirit. However, believing is not one of them. All men have the ability to believe, all men have the capability to believe. God is making sure that no man will have an excuse which Paul makes quite clear in Rom 1:18-24.
The natural man has no idea that he even needs God! So, if no one seeks after God on their own, why do some believe and have faith?
this is the fallacy of your theory of "total depravity". man does not do anything alone. Man was created with an innate sense of God, called a conscience. Man was created in God's image which makes man a bridge between the divine and material. That is the concept of body and soul. Animals do not have this capability as man. God, again, is calling all men to repent. Man must make an active choice NOT to be in a relationship with HIm.
Do you think you've "achieved" your own salvation yourself by YOUR OWN merit, by your act of believing in Him? If you do, you are boasting:
"For who makes you different from anybody else, and what have you got that was not given to you? And if anything has been given to you, why boast of it as if you had achieved it yourself?" (1 Corinthians 4:7)
According to orthodox Christianity, the cross of Christ never saved anybody; the cross only saves those who decide to be saved. However, a believer cannot claim credit for his or her ability to believe! (Quite true, I'm afraid. Re-read Philippians 1:29 and Romans 12:3. The first verse says that our belief in Christ is graciously granted us, the second that our very faith is a gift).
There is never any thing to boast about anyway, since all things we have are from God, including our free will. What we will be judged on is how we used those gifts. Some, like the 1 talent man, buried His gift, his faith, and was found wanting and condemned.
Cassian, your reasoning might seem logical to you, and it may be "the popular" belief of orthodox Christianity, but it totally contradicts and flat-out denies countless Scriptures. You continue to proclaim things to be true that are totally contrary to the Word of God.
so far, you have not even addressed anything that refutes what I stated. In fact, your first several paragraphs were not even on the topic which is why you misunderstood what scripture states. The logic has nothing to do with me. It has been the teaching of historical Christianity from the beginning.
There have been only four false teachings regarding the INcarnation and they were rejected. There has never been even a false teaching that arose in 1500 years opposing the concept of man's free will, individual salvation by and through faith.
Only when man, as a result of the reformation and the beginning of the practice of sola scriptura has man developed many differing views on any subject, any text one cares to offer.
You continue to proclaim things to be true that are totally contrary to the Word of God.
That you have not even addressed. All you addressed is that what I stated conflicts with your particular interpretation. I see nothing, no evidence from the early Church or anyone for that matter, who holds your view.