Romans 5:11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Notice that we (believers) received reconciliation (from God).
It does not say that humans choose whether or not to receive reconciliation and only if a human chooses to receive reconciliation will the reconciliation be applied to that person who chooses.
Yet, that is how you seem to be reading Romans 5:11.
The elect receive reconciliation, not by their choice, but by God's choice to reconcile us to himself.
Now, does God universally choose to reconcile all humanity to himself? I say... no. He only reconciles those whom He chooses to give to Jesus. Jesus atonement is therefore limited to whom He wills.
Barry, Romans 5:11 shows you are wrong in your view.
which says ALL, the entire human race. otherwise the preaching of the Gospel, which is Good News, to the whole human race, as Jesus Himself says in Mark 16:15, "He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.", is insincere and no more than an empty sham!
Barry, you have just taught merited reconciliation and salvation. You have also made the atonement ineffective for anyone who doesn't merit their reconciliation.
You then go on to make belief a human effort of the will, apart from grace and the gift of God.
"Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right"
Not at all. Recognize that scripture helps interpret scripture. Understand that you very well may be misunderstanding John 3:16 because you fail to grasp the context of John 3.
In fact, if we were to follow that explicitly,
I think that we as believers should all be looking very hard at Psalms 5:5 and Psalms 11:5 ( and many others like Romans 9:13 ) when we look at John 3:16 to determine who God loves, for example.
I'm not Austin, but I'd like to reply to this if it's OK:
" Then Peter opened [his] mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35 but in every nationhe that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. " ( Acts of the Apostles 10:34-35 ).
Here's what I see when I bring in the truth from other Scriptures, as I read this passage:
1) God does not respct persons when it comes to saving them...
He will have mercy and compassion on whom He wills ( Romans 9:14-18 ).
Nothing we do can ever make us respectable as sinners in the eyes of a holy God.
3) No one works righteousness apart from being made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ.
There is none righteous, no, not one ( Romans 3:10-11 ).
Therefore, only the saved who have been imputed the righteousness of Christ can ever do any truly good works, because God, in His favor, looks upon them who He has made righteous, as the only ones whose works please Him.
Those same works that He has before ordained that they should walk in ( Ephesians 2:10 ).
4) Only people who have been made accepted by Him, are accepted with Him.
Our works do not make us accepted, but His work and His grace are what makes us as believers, accepted in the beloved ( Ephesians 1:6 ).
He does it, and we are looked upon as His perfect work.
We bring nothing to the table and we stand on nothing except His mercy and grace ( Titus 3:4-7 ).
There is therefore nothing to boast about with regard to salvation from His wrath.
There is no work that could ever make anyone accepted with Him, because we cannot do what God the Father requires and that only the Lord Jesus ever did... Obey the Law in all points.
I think that if you look carefully at God's word, you will see that it nowhere declares that man's will is completely free.
Rather, it teaches that we as sinners are either enslaved to sin and loving it ( Romans 1:18-32, John 3:19-20 ), or set free from sin by the power of God and hating it ( Romans 6, Romans 7 ).
There is no "neutral position".
To me, man's will was only ever free in the Garden...
And the first time out using that freedom to choose, we botched it good.:(
He also limits the efficacy of the atonement by saying those who don't believe don't get saved so he also limits the atonement he doesn't have an unlimited atonement because he speaking of a potential atonement that doesn't actually save anyone