Part Four

"As for the submission that unlimited atonement and universal divine love make God a failure, it should be noted that someone only fails when they do not achieve what they set out to do.  If God attempted to make an atonement that would automatically save every single person in the world, and make His universal love irresistible then He certainly would have failed. However this is not the case.  God set out only to make an atonement that is sufficient for all, but efficient only for those who believe, and to direct a universal love that is resistible so that the sinner has to make a free will choice whether or not to accept it."

My response: Please show me Scripture to prove your doctrine. Nowhere does Scripture teach an atonement contingent on anything besides the will of God alone. Man's will does not make Christ's atonement efficient. If that were the case, then Eph. 2:8-9 should have said:

By the grace of God + your faith are ye saved, which faith is from yourself; it is your gift to God for which have a right to boast.

Belief, also known as faith, does not originate in the sinner. It is the gift of God, a seed planted by the Holy Spirit in ground which has been renewed and made ready through regeneration. As the new believer grows in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, his faith increases. Salvation is all of the Lord. He will share His glory with no other. Every true believer who has grown to maturity knows why His grace is amazing. The sinner has absolutely nothing to contribute to the perfect, finished work of Christ. He has no faith, for he is spiritually dead in his sins. Like the baby birthed from the womb, the Elect sinner is passive in his new birth from above, from God.

God's love and calling are not resisted by the Elect. But they are resisted by the Reprobate. The Holy Spirit graciously blows upon the Elect to bring them to life, while He sovereignly and justly passes by the Reprobate. The Elect are given that which they do not deserve, the Reprobate that which they do deserve. No one would choose Christ had not the Father drawn them first, (John 6:44). Yet some come to Christ by other means, for other unsavory motives. These are the tares sown among the wheat, of which we are warned.

Paul teaches that salvation is awarded to those Elect who were predestinated before the foundation of the world. This predestination unto life is the sole decision of the Lord:

    According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace.....

Please note several key points from the above:

(1) God does the choosing, not man. His will is sufficient, efficient and determinative. All He chooses, He saves. Not one given Christ is ever lost.

(2) His choosing the Elect is done from a spirit of love. Our response to His love is to love in return. All those whom He loves, He chooses. All He chooses, He saves.

(3) The Lord predestinates the Elect unto salvation by Christ Jesus because of His will alone. Our wills have no part in determining whether or not we are among the predestinate.

(4) Predestination is the saving grace of God in action, which always succeeds in saving those objects of His love. There is nothing glorious about losing one of the Predestined. To lose one would be shame, not glory.

To continue with Ephesians 1........

    ........having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.......

No mention of man's will here. It is non-existent in the context of salvation. The Lord's chosen and predestined are not elected for their faith in Him. They are elected for reasons which lie secret and hidden in Himself.

.........being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.....

God's purpose to save is not contingent on what man does or thinks. He sought no outside counsel, nor needed any outside facts or evidence of faith in order to make up His mind as to whom He would save. He reasons for choosing those whom He wills to save lies secret and hidden in Himself.