Understanding God’s election

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lrs68

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Dec 30, 2024
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And to whom was Ezekiel writing, if not God's chosen people? Also, my edits to your 2Pet 3:9 quote does not change the sense of the passage whatsoever. God is not patient toward the entire world in this passage wanting or wishing or hoping that then entire world comes to repentance (a world that Jesus never prayed for in John 17!), but God is patient toward his elect (for whom Jesus did pray for in John 17) because there are numerous promises in scripture that God will keep, preserve and protect his ELECT so that none of them ever perish!
God is clearly talking about the lost unsaved person and not the saved person.

23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
 

lrs68

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Dec 30, 2024
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The question should be since Esau's grandfather was Abraham and his dad was Isaac which means he knew who God was... DID ESAU LOVE GOD?

Because God would have been easier on Esau if Esau actually loved God and tried to obey, listen, worship God. But rather he went after the types of women his dad warned him about and he would have broken All of the Commandments about honoring your parents had they existed.
 
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Is it really up to them if they are still captive to the will of the devil and under the power and influence of the evil one? What choice is one most likely to make as a lover of darkness who is a slave to sin suppressing the truth in unrighteousness? This seems to be the great divide, for many refuse to even acknowledge this plight of the natural man. They believe such a person can and will choose to believe that which they can neither receive nor comprehend, to which they are inherently opposed, and which is foolishness to them.
This is where it gets tricky. I do belive we have free will to go down that path or not. We do however only have that choice and the ability to choose which path by the grace of God. God's grace is the deciding factor without it we could not have faith. but I do not like taking free will out of the equation. Not because I want to say I did it myself that is not the case God did it for me. But because God gave us free will so we could exercise it in our decisions. Otherwise how would you ever learn?
 
Jul 3, 2015
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This is where it gets tricky. I do belive we have free will to go down that path or not. We do however only have that choice and the ability to choose which path by the grace of God. God's grace is the deciding factor without it we could not have faith. but I do not like taking free will out of the equation. Not because I want to say I did it myself that is not the case God did it for me. But because God gave us free will so we could exercise it in our decisions. Otherwise how would you ever learn?
The problem is the will is only set free by Jesus, so any discussion about that has to be in light of not what the
natural man can do because Scripture is pretty clear in that regard = about who that person is and what choices
they make and are capable of making, although given what many say here, you would never know it. As a relative
newcomer to this thread you might be shocked at some of the things said here, especially by those who trumpet
the so-called "free will" of man, because they seem especially opposed to God's sovereignty. We have even been
told that God is unfair if He reveals Himself in a way that is not exactly the same to how He reveals Himself to
another despite the Bible being full of such instances... and in fact God revealing Himself to people personally
is outright mocked and scoffed, despite it being a Scriptural truth that God draws people with loving kindness
(which is very personal) and the fact that it is the Holy Spirit of God Who reveals the truth to us about Jesus.



"Free will" in the Bible? ~ Freedom is something believers are called to (Galatians 5 verse 13). We need Jesus to “set us free” (Galatians 5 verse 1). If Jesus has not freed us from the bondage of sin, then we are still slaves to sin (Romans 6 verses 6-7). Freedom is found in the presence of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3 verse 17). Only Jesus can give us true freedom (John 8 verse 36). Only through His lovingkindness can we truly make choices unfettered by a nature that is inherently hostile toward God.
 
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Let me guess if I say yes your gonna come at me with the "for Jacob I have loved and esau I have hated" while ignoring the fact the they spoke differently 4000 years ago. For instance if a man had 2 wives one had 4 sons the other was barren it was said God loved one and hated the other. Or if a father gave a bigger inheritance to one son or the other it was said he loved one and hated the other. That didn't mean he hated his one son so much he was gonna club him and feed him to the birds or something. Its just an idiom used to describe an unequal situation 4k years ago.
 
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"Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." Jesus' words, John 3 verse 3 If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Romans 8 verse 9 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation. Galatians 6 verse 15 The spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 46
 
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Philippians 3 verse 3; Colossians 2 verse 11; Romans 2 verse 29b ~ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. You were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. Circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.
 
Oct 19, 2024
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The question should be since Esau's grandfather was Abraham and his dad was Isaac which means he knew who God was... DID ESAU LOVE GOD?

Because God would have been easier on Esau if Esau actually loved God and tried to obey, listen, worship God. But rather he went after the types of women his dad warned him about and he would have broken All of the Commandments about honoring your parents had they existed.
I agree and wonder whether you would like to participate in a systematic study of the doctrine of election on the Hermeneutics thread beginning with post #368.
 
Jul 3, 2015
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Romans 8 verse 7a, Galatians 5 verse 17, John 1 verse 5, John 14 verse 17 ~ The mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. The flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. Darkness does not comprehend the Light. The world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.
 

rogerg

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2021
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God is the same yesterday today and forever so different Covenants have nothing to do with God not wanting anyone to die\perish but to repent.
God is the same, but His covenants aren't- and most assuredly - there are two different covenants. God, as a part of His New Covenant, gives repentance as a free gift (a full belief/trust/faith in Jesus as the Savior, leaving behind our trust in our dead works), but only to those whom He places under that new covenant - it is all of God, nothing of ourselves.

[2Ti 2:25 KJV]
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

[Heb 6:1 KJV]
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
 

lrs68

Active member
Dec 30, 2024
916
244
43
God is the same, but His covenants aren't- and most assuredly - there are two different covenants. God, as a part of His New Covenant, gives repentance as a free gift (a full belief/trust/faith in Jesus as the Savior, leaving behind our trust in our dead works), but only to those whom He places under that new covenant - it is all of God, nothing of ourselves.

[2Ti 2:25 KJV]
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

[Heb 6:1 KJV]
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
The fact that God is the same means if He doesn't want sinners to die eternally He still doesn't want them to die eternally. That has nothing to do with Covenants but 💯 % to do with how God is.