Gary wrote: > Calvin did; and he wrote on the subject, partic > in the early part of the Institutes, easily one > of the ten most influential comments ever written > --his book is ~500 y/o and people are still talkin' > about it:)
Hey Gary, did it ever occur to you that the Devil has been around longer than that, and people are still talking about him too! Also, I know how much you dislike Plato, so I cannot help but point out that Plato wrote The Republic some 2,000 years before Calvin and people are still talkin' about it. :) It is interesting to note that Calvin points out in his Institutes that the end of election is holiness of life. He quotes Eph. 1:4 in support of it: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." (Ephesians 1:4 KJV) Unfortunately, perhaps because his own life was self-confessed to be wrought with continual sin, he could not see how this verse he quotes is present tense and not future tense. The passage does not say, as Calvin seems to read it, that "we SHALL BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME" in the end after Jesus returns again. Rather, the passage says, "we should be holy and without blame," meaning right now. The verb is present infinitive active, which indicates present tense continuing action. We are to be holy and without blame before Him right now. And the reason is given in Ephesians in the very next verse, which is because he has predestinated us unto the adoption of children. We must be holy and blameless because we were predestined before the foundation of the world to be his children. Well, if we are to be his children, what are some characteristics of his children? Holy perhaps? Blameless? As John says, his children cannot sin. So one of the most powerful Christian Perfection verses in all of Scripture, nestled within passages on predestination, is rightly acknowledged by Calvin as speaking about true holiness, but its fulfillment is assumed by him to be something obtained at the END of election, something held out as a carrot to which we all run after but never obtain until the end. It is like the Mormon idea that we are not saved yet, but only in the end can salvation be experienced and known. How sad it is that men like Calvin shrunk back in unbelief. Look now at the state of his countrymen in France and the despicable morality that everywhere abounds in that place. It is difficult to judge a man who lived in another time and another culture, so I refrain somewhat from doing so, but certainly in our day and time, I can rightly judge that Calvin fell short in apprehending the sanctification taught by the very Scriptures which he studied and expounded upon so tediously. I would encourage you and others to read Jacobus Arminius instead of Calvin, and thereby learn better the true doctrine of predestination. While Arminius did not directly hold to Christian Perfection himself, he allowed for its possibility and was criticized sharply by Calvinists for not repudiating it. A man is wise who does not repudiate something he does not understand without valid authority and grounds to do so. Peace be with you. David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
