Some good reformed authors would be:
RC Sproul
Michael Horton
john calvin
Does the Holy Spirit draw the unsaved to Christ?
Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by agedman, Dec 18, 2011.
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Martin Marprelate Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
However, none of this alters the fact that men will not receive the word unless they are led to do so by the Spirit. 'Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word' (John 8:43).
Steve -
To be used by the HS as part of the process to bring the elected by God to personal saving faith in Jesus Christ!
To those who will be getting saved, it is indeed power of God unto salvation, but message of condemnation to those who refuse Christ and still stay in their sins! -
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
those who refuse Christ and still stay in their sins! .....And what are these folks called? perhaps the hard to understand word "Reprobate"
1 Peter 2;7-8 "Now to you who believe, this stone (Jesus Christ) is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, ' and, 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.' They stumble because they disobey the message---which is also what they were destined for." -
Example: The firemen used the jaws of life to rescue the trapped victim. Sometime later the victim tells the story saying, "The jaws of life saved me." Is that incorrect? No. It may not tell the full story, but it is not incorrect. The jaws alone didn't save her, obviously. Just as faith alone wouldn't save us. We needed God's grace and Christ's work of atonement. Likewise, the words themselves were used by God to save, thus it is not incorrect to say that the words saved me.
There are two possible answers to this question:
1. Because they were not elected, born totally depraved and thus naturally unable to understand his words. (Calvinistic answer)
OR
2. Jesus said, "For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them."
They weren't born unable to hear these words. They grew hardened over time after continual rebellion and NOW they were being sealed or blinded into their rebellion so that God could accomplish a great redemptive purpose through their unbelief. (see Acts 28:21-28; Mark 4; Matt 13; Rom 11) -
Practical Christianity
Profiting From the Word
Comfort For Christians
Attributes of God
Of course he's most noted for his classic:The Sovereignty of God.
When you want to go deeper get :Doctrine of Reconciliation.
Acquire Iain Murray's updated bio of A.W.P. and Richard Belcher's too. -
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1 Corinthians 2:14
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
Gospel message would fit that definition, being of the HS ! -
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Martin Marprelate Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Books that are not recommended include Gleanings from Genesis, and the Commentary on John.
Steve -
Martin Marprelate Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Steve -
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John 16:7-11, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. "
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They would see John as appealing instead to wisdom in OT, as jesus being the very bodily personification of the Wisdom of God among us in bodily form! -
When we share our faith we also deal with the wisdom of the day and the wisdom of God in order to show the superiority of Jesus and the wisdom of God in comparison to the changing wisdom of the day and lack of truth in it.
I have asked philosophy students if any of the philosophers ever found the truth and the answer is usually the same, maybe some or none. Yet those philosophers used the term logos.
We know that there were religious and secular philosophies of the day that John dealt with.
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