WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH?
 


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God's Sovereign Choice


Two of the most highly-debated issues in the Bible are predestination vs. free-will salvation and eternal security vs. falling away.  Because all of these ideas are described in the Bible, they must all fit together somehow (if you profess to believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God).  We believe that God's Sovereign Choice, as Paul described in Romans Ch. 9, explains how all of these concepts work together.  (This subject will be discussed in greater detail in Issues In The Bible)


Chosen

Verses that say Jesus' disciples or all Christians are chosen by God
Predestination

Verses about predestination
Eternal Security

Verses about God keeping His children strong to the end
Mark 13:20 Eph. 1:4
Luke 18:7 Col. 3:12
John 6:70 1 Thess. 1:4-5
John 13:18 2 Thess. 2:13
John 15:16, 19 1 Pet. 2:9
Rom. 8:33 1 Pet. 5:13

Elect

Verses that call Christians "the elect" or say they are elected by God

Mat. 24:22, 24 Titus 1:1
Mat 24:31 1 Pet. 1:1-2
Rom. 11:7 2 Pet. 1:10-11
2 Tim. 2:10

Mat. 11:27 - "...no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

John 5:21 - "... the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it."

John 6:37
- all that the Father gives to Jesus will come to Jesus

John 6:44 - no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him

John 6:65 - no one can come to Christ unless the Father has enabled him

John 17:2 - Jesus gives eternal life to all those whom the Father gives Him

Acts 13:48 - "...all who were appointed for eternal life believed"

Rom. 8:29-30 - "...those God foreknew he also predestined..."

Rom. 9 - Paul thoroughly describes the reasoning behind predestination

Eph. 1:4-5 - "...In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."

Eph. 1:11 - "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,"
John 6:37-39 - Jesus will not lose anyone whom the Father has given Him

John 10:5 - Jesus' sheep will never follow a stranger

John 10:28 - no one can snatch the sheep out of Christ's hand

1 Cor. 1:8 - "He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Cor. 1:21 - "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ..."

Philip. 1:6 - "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

1 Thess. 5:23-24 - "...May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

1 Pet. 1:5 - to "God's elect," Peter says, "you, who are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

Jude 1:1 - "...To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ."

Jude 1:24 - "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

Falling Away


Heb. 6:4-6
- "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."

2 Pet. 2:20-22 - "If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
Verses about Christians falling away from the faith


Luke 7:23 - "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

Luke 8:13 - some fall away during the "time of testing"

Luke 14:34 - "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?"

John 15:10 - Jesus said, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love"

1 Tim. 1:19 - some have "shipwrecked their faith"

1 Tim. 5:15 - some have "already turned to follow Satan"

1 Tim. 6:21 - some have "wandered from the faith"

2 Tim. 2:18 - some have "wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some."

2 Pet. 2:15 - some have "left the straight way"

2 Pet. 3:17 - Peter warns not to "fall from your secure position"


Rom. 11:21-22
- "For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off."

Heb. 10:26-31 - "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."









Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

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