If God elects people, how can He rightly punish the non-elect?

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A

atwhatcost

Guest
Based on this verse, I don't understand how God can punish those who are not elect.

Ephesians 1:4-5 (KJV) "According as he hath chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will"

So if He has chosen some, then that means that nobody else has the ability to get saved now, right? But how can they be blamed if they don't have the ability to do good (since they are born sinners), or accept Jesus' sacrifice to cover them?

Some of you might say that they still deserve to go to hell because they have chosen to sin against God, but because of the conditions we've been put in, it's impossible not to. No one chose to be born. None of us chose to be put into a life where it's impossible to stop doing the very thing that condemns them. But even if they're given the gospel, it doesn't matter because they weren't made to be saved and go to Heaven anyway.

Thanks to everyone who responds.
You haven't responded yet, and this is getting long. Since you asked, let me ask... any questions coming up from everything anyone has said?
 

Hepzibah

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2015
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But as a Pharisee he did not have a struggle with his flesh. So why is he saying in Romans 7 that he has a struggle with his flesh if he was describing his experience there as well as Pharisee? You are not making sense.
 

Elin

Banned
Jan 19, 2013
11,909
141
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Elin said:
Justice and righteousness are the same thing.
Exactly. So we can't look at Gods justice as arbitrary.
And we don't.

Justice is giving to everyone his due.

Our due as sinners is eternal death.

In justice, we have no right to anything more from God than we are due.

God's free mercy to some and not others is not unjust, for he owes mercy to no one.
"Arbitrary" mercy is not unjust or unrighteous.

ar·bi·trar·y
ˈärbəˌtrerē/
adjective
[COLOR=#878787 !important][/COLOR]

  • based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.
    [COLOR=#878787 !important]"his mealtimes were entirely arbitrary"[/COLOR]
    [TABLE="class: vk_tbl vk_gy"]
    [TR]
    [TD="class: lr_dct_nyms_ttl"]synonyms:[/TD]
    [TD]capricious, whimsical, random, chance, unpredictable; More


    [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]

    [TABLE="class: vk_tbl vk_gy"]
    [TR]
    [TD="class: lr_dct_nyms_ttl"][/TD]
    [TD][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]
    • (of power or a ruling body) unrestrained and autocratic in the use of authority.
      [COLOR=#878787 !important]"arbitrary rule by King and bishops has been made impossible"[/COLOR]
      [TABLE="class: vk_tbl vk_gy"]
      [TR]
      [TD="class: lr_dct_nyms_ttl"]synonyms:[/TD]
      [TD]autocratic, dictatorial, autarchic, undemocratic, despotic, tyrannical,authoritarian, high-handed; More

      [/TD]
      [/TR]
      [/TABLE]

      [TABLE="class: vk_tbl vk_gy"]
      [TR]
      [TD="class: lr_dct_nyms_ttl"][/TD]
      [TD][/TD]
      [/TR]
      [/TABLE]
    • MATHEMATICS
      (of a constant or other quantity) of unspecified value.



 

Elin

Banned
Jan 19, 2013
11,909
141
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No, the blame, fault, moral culpability Calvinism puts upon God is showing.
Calvin has nothing to do with it. . .quit blaming him for you unbelief.
 
V

Viligant_Warrior

Guest
Yes, those are the plurals for more than one "individual" who is individually elected to salvation.
Which equals corporate election -- not individual.
 
G

Gr8grace

Guest
And we don't.

Justice is giving to everyone his due.

Our due as sinners is eternal death.

In justice, we have no right to anything more from God than we are due.

God's free mercy to some and not others is not unjust, for he owes mercy to no one.
"Arbitrary" mercy is not unjust or unrighteous.
Honest question.

So where is the Cross in relation to arbitrary mercy?

If God can have arbitrary mercy on whom so ever He wills. Why put His Son on the Cross then?
 

Elin

Banned
Jan 19, 2013
11,909
141
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Elin l can't understand you. He wrote that during his tenure as a Pharisee he thought he was blameless. Whether he was or not is besides the point. He is giving his view of himself twice and they contradict.
One says he is blameless, the other says he thinks he is a miserable wretch. You say the second is still as a pharisee. Explain.
Two different standards are being used--the law and the gospel.

According to the standard of the law, when he was a Pharisee, is the first view, and is true according to that false standard.
According to the gospel standard (which declares him a sinner) and without the indwelling Holy Spirit is the second view, and is true according to that standard, which is the true standard.

Look at the context of his claim to being faultless as a Pharisee, and you will see the what and why of it.
 
Mar 12, 2014
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Calvin has nothing to do with it. . .quit blaming him for you unbelief.

What kind of response is this???

Did the one talent man of his own free will bury the talent and therefore lost or was he predetermined by God to do so and be lost?

Did the other men of their own free will use their talents righteously and therefore saved or predetermined by God to do so and be saved?
 
Mar 12, 2014
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But as a Pharisee he did not have a struggle with his flesh. So why is he saying in Romans 7 that he has a struggle with his flesh if he was describing his experience there as well as Pharisee? You are not making sense.
Hi,

I think Paul was blameless under the OT law (Phil 3:6) in the same sense as John's parents were also blameless under the OT (Lk 1:6). None were perfectly sinless but kept the law and its sin sacrifices keeping them blameless.

The issue in Rom 7 is Paul is writing this Roman epistle to Jews in Rome who became Christians and Paul is telling/warning them about trying to go back to the OT law. That OT law made justification impossible, so why would any Jew (or anyone) want to go back to that law? Under that OT law they did not have the blood of Christ to wash away all sins leaving them completely justified before God in Christ. The most that OT law allowed for to be completely justified before God was perfect, flawless law keeping which of course no Jew was able to do. In Rom 7 Paul is reminding these Jews of the struggle he had living under that OT law and striving for complete justification. Paul could not fulfill that high demand that OT law required to be completely justified and Paul expresses in Rom 7 the frustration, the problems of flawless law keeping. For it was in the heart of Paul to obey God, for he had much zeal for God, but it was heart-breaking for him when he did not keep it flawlessly as that law demanded therefore finding himself in sin before God instead of complete justification.

To cut off the Calvinists here, Paul in Rom 7 did NOT say he was totally depraved and not capable and unwilling to do any good at all, but is demonstrating to those Christian Jews in Rome the way the OT law made it impossible for one to be completely justified before God and the frustration that brought to him.
 
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Hepzibah

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2015
337
24
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If l talk to you any longer Elin, l am afraid that l will rip my hair out. Thank you.
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest


God doesn't have to be 'fair'. God is sovereign. God does choose His elect but He chooses not to give us the basis for His choice. As Paul said, 'who are you to argue against God'.


I agree with you almost to a T,

However, God DID give us the basis for his choice.

Whoever calls on the name of the lord will be saved.
Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame
We are saved by faith

etc etc.

If salvation is based on these facts. and jesus chose to save based on these facts, then this is the reason God chose.

As jesus himself said, whoever believes has eternal life, whoever does not believe shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him.

But proginosko does not mean foreknowledge in that sense. It includes the strong sense of 'know'. ('Jer 22.16; 1 Cor 8.33; Gal 4.9; 'you only have I known' (Amos 3.2). The idea that God simply 'elects' those whom He knows are going to believe makes nonsense of election. He doesn't elect them at all. He just falls in line with what people choose. That is NOT what Scripture teaches, even though we might use it as an excuse to fit God into our categories.
It makes perfect sense,

Not only that, But makes God a God of love, not a God of chance.

He chose based on the gospel (his son and what his son did)
The gospel states we are saved by trusting and calling out to God in complete humility (true faith)

thus he chose based on faith..
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
All are sinners. . .God owes salvation to no one, so he is not unjust in not giving it to them.

He justly exercises his mercy as he chooses.

We have no charge against God when he acts justly. . .which is always.
Yep. All are sinners.

Thus if God does not offer salvation to all. he is not the God of love he claims to be.
And satans lie is not only founded on the basis of truth, but confirmed.


Satan wins, God loses, and guess what, We have no hope; because an eternity with satan in charge is not an eternity I wish to be a part of. it would be no better than this world we live in now



 

Hepzibah

Senior Member
Apr 18, 2015
337
24
18
Hi,

I think Paul was blameless under the OT law (Phil 3:6) in the same sense as John's parents were also blameless under the OT (Lk 1:6). None were perfectly sinless but kept the law and its sin sacrifices keeping them blameless.

The issue in Rom 7 is Paul is writing this Roman epistle to Jews in Rome who became Christians and Paul is telling/warning them about trying to go back to the OT law. That OT law made justification impossible, so why would any Jew (or anyone) want to go back to that law? Under that OT law they did not have the blood of Christ to wash away all sins leaving them completely justified before God in Christ. The most that OT law allowed for to be completely justified before God was perfect, flawless law keeping which of course no Jew was able to do. In Rom 7 Paul is reminding these Jews of the struggle he had living under that OT law and striving for complete justification. Paul could not fulfill that high demand that OT law required to be completely justified and Paul expresses in Rom 7 the frustration, the problems of flawless law keeping. For it was in the heart of Paul to obey God, for he had much zeal for God, but it was heart-breaking for him when he did not keep it flawlessly as that law demanded therefore finding himself in sin before God instead of complete justification.

To cut off the Calvinists here, Paul in Rom 7 did NOT say he was totally depraved and not capable and unwilling to do any good at all, but is demonstrating to those Christian Jews in Rome the way the OT law made it impossible for one to be completely justified before God and the frustration that brought to him.

Philippians 3:5
 
G

Gr8grace

Guest
Yep. All are sinners.

Thus if God does not offer salvation to all. he is not the God of love he claims to be.
And satans lie is not only founded on the basis of truth, but confirmed.


Satan wins, God loses, and guess what, We have no hope; because an eternity with satan in charge is not an eternity I wish to be a part of. it would be no better than this world we live in now



You got it EG. the OP question...........[h=2]If God elects people, how can He rightly punish the non-elect?[/h]
It is what God and we are proving to satan. Satan is guilty and rightly condemned. He was not elected to fall and be condemned. It was his freewill choice.........It is his fault.
 
Jun 30, 2011
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Yep. All are sinners.

Thus if God does not offer salvation to all. he is not the God of love he claims to be.
And satans lie is not only founded on the basis of truth, but confirmed.


Satan wins, God loses, and guess what, We have no hope; because an eternity with satan in charge is not an eternity I wish to be a part of. it would be no better than this world we live in now





-Satan never won anything - he's allowed a short leash that God commands - why would anyone ever say that???

-If all Glory is God's, and the work is God's where does human effort towards salvation come? rhetorical Q



Anyway - I think we all have bigger fish to fry than if you agree or disagree with TULIP or Calvinistic Theology -

The better question is - what are you basing your ability to persevere under what is ahead? Your effort, or God's effort in the finished work of Christ
 
Mar 12, 2014
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I forgot but should have added that after Paul speaks of his frustration of trying to keep the flawless law keeping the OT law demanded in Rom 7, going into Rom 8 Paul shows that "now" as a Christian in Christ there is "no condmenation", no frustration and problems under the NT gospel in BEING completely justified before God in Christ.
 
A

atwhatcost

Guest


-Satan never won anything - he's allowed a short leash that God commands - why would anyone ever say that???

-If all Glory is God's, and the work is God's where does human effort towards salvation come? rhetorical Q



Anyway - I think we all have bigger fish to fry than if you agree or disagree with TULIP or Calvinistic Theology -

The better question is - what are you basing your ability to persevere under what is ahead? Your effort, or God's effort in the finished work of Christ
I really wish people had just stuck to the Kiki's question instead of going off on the whole Calvinist vs. whatever debate. Give a little time, it was easy to find out the Kiki probably doesn't know John Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
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Tennessee
I really wish people had just stuck to the Kiki's question instead of going off on the whole Calvinist vs. whatever debate. Give a little time, it was easy to find out the Kiki probably doesn't know John Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.
Hobbes is the tiger, right?
 
G

Gr8grace

Guest


-Satan never won anything - he's allowed a short leash that God commands - why would anyone ever say that???

-If all Glory is God's, and the work is God's where does human effort towards salvation come? rhetorical Q



Anyway - I think we all have bigger fish to fry than if you agree or disagree with TULIP or Calvinistic Theology -

The better question is - what are you basing your ability to persevere under what is ahead? Your effort, or God's effort in the finished work of Christ
That is a good question. But I have moved on from it.

He will persevere and He will preserve me.
 
K

KennethC

Guest
No, the blame, fault, moral culpability Calvinism puts upon God is showing.

Calvin's doctrine derived from the false doctrine taught by Augustine who said by his eternal security doctrine that falling away and apostasy is impossible. Calvin's is just an adaptation of these falsehoods that the bible clearly teaches on both.

Those who claim falling away from the faith is impossible are debating with the word of God, for the Holy Spirit Himself said that it will and does happen.........Augustine and Calvin say no - The Holy Spirit says yes;

Who are you going to believe the Holy Spirit or a man ???