- Written by Steven Amis
As Christians, we live in a world full of unbelievers who view us in a myriad of unfavorable ways. Some would say that we are bizarre and fanatical, while others regard us as foolish, intolerant and offensive. This is no surprise, considering that Scripture teaches us that, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:21-22). Elsewhere we read, “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” (1 Corinthians 2:14). We too were once in the dark and were lost before Christ saved us, and many of us would have once responded to the proclaimed gospel in like manner. To lost Jews, our message of salvation is a stumbling block, while to Gentiles it is utter foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23). According to worldly wisdom, it is absolute folly to believe in a message about a crucified Jew who rose again from the dead three days later, and to not only sing songs of worship about bloodshed from the most humiliating kind of death imaginable, but to also actively remember that bloodshed time and time again in a tangible manner!
- Written by Steven Amis
Over the past few weeks, we have done the work of searching the Scriptures to see what the Spirit-inspired writers had to say in regards to the doctrine of election, and we have found many great truths. To recap what we covered: God has elected those whom He foreknew in eternity past, and He has predestined those whom He elected to receive the eternal blessing, all made possible through the finished work of Christ. Throughout history, God has always had His own special people on whom He lavished His lovingkindness and grace, while passing over all the others whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. Election is a doctrine that many dear saints have struggled with through the centuries, including many believers today.
- Written by Steven Amis
Towards the end of the blog titled “God’s Eternal Decree – Part 1”, I made the following assertion concerning the doctrine of election: “Once you see it in one text of Scripture, you begin to see it everywhere in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.” Oh, how true is that statement! This was precisely my experience when I began to understand and fully embrace the Doctrines of Grace back in the mid 2010s, not long before I started attending Twin Cities Bible Church. As someone who began to see the truth and beauty of Romans 8 like never before, I began to see election not only in the pages of Romans 8, but also in Ephesians 1. But wait…there’s more! That text I used to use to vehemently defend my Arminian understanding of salvation, John 15…sure enough, I began to see election taught there as well. More and more passages followed. Before I knew it, I was seeing it all over the New Testament. I started to think about how God specifically chose the nation Israel out of all the other nations of the world, and voilà…it was all over the Old Testament as well!