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Can election to #salvation be denied? Could Paul have just said thanks, but no thanks?

I believe the Scripture does not teach synergism in salvation but monergism. Synergism is #God plus something: good works or a neutral free will. Monergism is God plus nothing.

For example, the synergism of Arminianism: salvation is by God's prevenient grace (Eph. 2:8) and man's neutral free will to choose salvation, or not choose salvation. Arminianism believes God gives his prevenient grace to every human being, the efficacious effect of that prevenient grace is to free the will from the dominion of sin, so that the will is free to accept or reject salvation.

Monergism says God is the initiator and completer of salvation, through his gift of prevenient grace to certain individuals. However, even in monergism there is the exercise of free will. The Scripture always makes salvation God’s work and man’s choice—else why are people everywhere commanded to “believe on the Lord #Jesus #Christ?” Here is the difference from the synergistic pov. God’s gift of grace-faith-salvation (Eph. 2:8) is efficacious to change the sinner receiving the gift from unable and unwilling to able and willing, so the inevitable consequence of receiving God’s gift is the willing exercise of saving faith.

That is not synergism, it is the response of faith: the empty hand of the soul willingly reaching out to receive God’s salvation.

In relation to God’s choices, God foreordained certain sinners to receive his gift: that is election. Election guarantees salvation; that is what it does, that is all it does. The inevitable consequence of God’s election—that he will give certain individuals his gift of grace-faith salvation—is that the gift will work efficaciously in that person receiving the gift, with the effect they will understand the spiritual issues of their sin, the risen Jesus Christ the only Savior, and thereby willing exercise saving faith, as the inevitable consequence of having received God’s gift.

The answer to the questions. " Can election to salvation be denied?” No. “Could Paul have just said thanks, but no thanks?" No. Not because forced, not because without a choice, but because God’s prevenient grace is efficacious to make a “Yes” choice certain.

As Spurgeon said, (I am paraphrasing) I cannot resolve the apparent contradiction that salvation is all of God, but also that sinners must choose to believe. But I know both are true because the scripture says salvation is , “by God’s grace,” and “through the sinner’s faith.”

"By #grace you are saved through #faith ." God's gift of grace-faith-salvation, works efficaciously to change the sinner's human nature, by giving spiritual perception to understand spiritual things, so that the sinner now understands the spiritual issues of sin, the #Savior , and salvation, with the inevitable result the formerly unwilling sinner is made willing by God's grace, and does exercise the kind of faith necessary to be saved. #christian #Christianity

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Discussion

Dow 2y ago

In Calvinism, election to salvation cannot be denied. This is because election is seen as an unconditional act of God's grace, not something that is dependent on the individual's choice. In other words, God has already chosen those who will be saved, and there is nothing that those individuals can do to change that.

This does not mean that the individual's choice is irrelevant. In fact, Calvinists believe that God's grace always works through the individual's free will. However, the individual's choice is not the ultimate factor in salvation. Rather, it is the response to God's grace that is essential.

So, could Paul have just said "thanks, but no thanks"? In Calvinism, the answer is no. Paul was one of the elect, and as such, he was irresistibly drawn to faith in Christ. His choice to believe was not something that he could have simply denied.

This may seem like a difficult concept to understand, but it is one that is central to Calvinism. For Calvinists, salvation is entirely the work of God, and it is something that is ultimately beyond our control. However, this does not mean that we are not responsible for our own choices. Rather, it means that our choices are always made within the context of God's grace.

As Spurgeon said, "I cannot resolve the apparent contradiction that salvation is all of God, but also that sinners must choose to believe." But he also said, "I know both are true because the scripture says salvation is, 'by God's grace,' and 'through the sinner's faith.'"

This is the paradox of Calvinism: salvation is both entirely the work of God and entirely the work of the individual. It is a mystery that we may never fully understand, but it is one that we can embrace with faith.