Romans 10:13-15, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? . . ."
In this text salvation is preceded by calling on the LORD. And the calling on the LORD is preceded by believing. And the believing is preceded by hearing the gospel. And the hearing the gospel is preceded by the sending of a preacher to speak the gospel.
The point being made here is the salvation is preceded by believing.
There are other texts which teach faith precedes salvation.
Romans 10:9.
Mark 16:16.
Acts of the Apostles 16:31.
To list a few.
Faith prior to being saved, Romans 10:13-15.
Discussion in 'Calvinism & Arminianism Debate' started by 37818, Jun 20, 2021.
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For examples,
"And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." ( John 6:65 ). <-------- Being given to Christ by His Father precedes coming to ( believing on ) Christ.
" But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. " ( John 10:26 ) <------Being one of Christ's sheep precedes belief.
Acts of the Apostles 2:47 <----- The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved, from His perspective.
Acts of the Apostles 13:48 <----- Being ordained to eternal life precedes belief.
Acts of the Apostles 16:14 <------ God opening Lydia's heart preceded her listening to the words spoken by Paul.
But I do see that actually calling upon the Lord is preceded by belief, and belief is preceded by hearing the word of God, and hearing the word of God is preceded by a preacher being sent from God.:)
In other words, from our point of view and our experience as believers, our eig brought to the knowledge of our salvation is indeed preceded by our belief...
From God's point of view, His choice of us to salvation precedes our belief.
However, in Romans 8, for example, I clearly see that God only performs what is found in Romans 8:29-30 for those that He has foreknown, and no one else.
In Romans 9, God only has mercy and compassion on the vessels of mercy, which He has afore prepared unto glory.
These both tell me that God's purposes according to election stand...just as Romans 9:11 spells out;
That being not born, neither having done and good or evil, His purpose according to election shall stand...
Not of works, but of Him that calls ( summons ). -
Whether or not God chose people in Christ from the foundation of the world ( which He did, please see Ephesians 1:4 ),
and only grants what we see in Romans 8:29-30 to those He has, in His wisdom and mercy, decided to save,
and Jesus only gives eternal life to those which were given to Him by His Father in John 17:2,
If someone actually does what is contained in Romans 10:9, I hold that the text is true...they shall be saved.
2) " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." ( Mark 16:16 ).
Same here, as in both cases I understand that this is looking forward to Judgment Day:
A future event when all of humanity shall be separated...the "sheep" from the "goats".
For reference, see Matthew 25:31-46.
3) " Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." ( Acts of the Apostles 16:29-31 ).
Again, same here...notwithstanding that Paul and Barnabas also promised the jailer that his house would be saved as well.
However,
I've also come to believe, after several years of interaction regarding this subject on this and other forums,
Since the answer to this is a matter of one's personal understanding of how God's gift of eternal life is accomplished in the life of a believer, then I see that it really does no good to try and discuss it at length unless the other person sees it the same way in the course of their own studies.
If we agree, then we agree.
If we do not, then with Amos 3:3 firmly in mind...
"Can two walk together unless they be agreed?"
The answer is, "no, we cannot".:(
We are left with having to agree to disagree.
May God bless you greatly. -
Brightfame52 Well-Known Member
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The text does not say "have been saved." And faith is prior to calling on the LORD. -
Ephesians 2:1-10 says "through faith." And qualifies "and that not of yourselves: . . ." -
Hmm. The notion of regeneration prior to faith might be referred to as the unBiblical sixth point of Calvinism. I find this notion of regeneration prior to faith to be totally untenable being unBiblical. Yeah, the five points have real Biblical bases, though not all of those five interpretations are agreed upon.
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