Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard1965
He is speaking from the standpoint of the believer, the elect....
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Yes, believers are obviously included, however the declaration of righteousness is to
all sinners (the elect). Let me explain why this is so:
When looking at the order of God's decree and determining who are the elect, we are told His
call precedes His
declaring righteous:
Rom 8:30 and whom He did fore-appoint, these also He did call; and
whom He did call, these also He declared righteous; and whom He declared righteous, these also He did glorify.
At this point the elect are as yet, undefined. A few verses later (verse 33), we are told who the elect are (the YLT translation uses the phrase "choice ones") and that it is the elect that have been declared righteous:
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay a charge against the
choice ones of God? God is He that is
declaring righteous,
Based on this, we know who the elect are. The elect are those
He did call and whom he declared righteous:
Rom 8:30 and whom He did fore-appoint, these also He did call; and whom
He did call, these also
He declared righteous; and whom He declared righteous, these also He did glorify.
With that settled, we now need to know who specifically "
He did call".
During the proclamation of the Gospel, Jesus defined two classes of humanity: The called, and those that are not called. To understand who are the called, we have to discover why Jesus came, and why He did not come:
Mat 9:13 but having gone, learn ye what is,
Kindness I will, and not sacrifice, for
I did not come to call righteous men, but sinners, to reformation.'
Mar 2:17 And Jesus, having heard, saith to them, `They who are strong have no need of a physician, but they who are ill;
I came not to call righteous men, but sinners to reformation.'
Luk 5:32
I came not to call righteous men, but sinners, to reformation.'
Jesus has now defined why he came: For Kindness (mercy); and to call sinners to reformation (repentance). He came to call a select group of people:
Sinners. He did not come to call the righteous.
The called ones are the elect. They are:
Sinners. The non called are the non elect. They are: The righteous.
To further illustrate the difference between the called (elect) and the non-called (non elect), Jesus defines the called as being
the lost:
Luk 19:10 for the Son of Man came to
seek and to save the lost.'
Mat 18:11 for the Son of Man did come to
save the lost.
Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly), the elect are not the righteous. In fact they are the opposite. They are the
impious (grievous sinners, the Godless ones). These are for whom Christ died and whom God is
declaring righteous:
Rom 4:5 and to him who is not working, and is believing upon
Him who is declaring righteous the impious, his faith is reckoned--to righteousness:
Rom 5:6 For in our being still ailing,
Christ in due time did die for the impious;
To figure out just how many of these impious sinners there are, Paul tells us here:
Rom 3:10 according as it hath been written--`
There is none righteous, not even one;
Rom 3:22 and
the righteousness of God is through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, -- for there is no difference,
Rom 3:23
for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God--
From this, Paul has identified the scope of the called (the elect). They are:
To all, and upon all those believing: But there is no difference between the two groups. All are Sinners,
all our impious, in that all did sin and not even one person was found to be righteous (non-elect). There is not one person who is non-elect! Not even one. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Bush and Obama, all elect. You and me, all elect. Judas, elect. Those that nailed Jesus to the cross, elect. Those that planned Jesus' execution, elect. The people on death row, elect. All are elect.
Now, many will object to this reasoning and say: Many are not called "effectually" when they hear the Gospel, and "many are called but few are chosen". However, these objections are not scriptural for the following reasons: Scripture defines those whom
He did Call as being the ones that are declared righteous. Secondly, the "effectual" call of the Gospel occurs
in time, after our being declared righteous, not before. Effectual calling occurs during the act of Regeneration, by the Spirit. Also, we are told that those who are declared righteous have their accounts
reckoned in time, when they believe:
Rom 4:23 And it was not written on his account alone, that it was reckoned to him,
Rom 4:24 but also on ours,
to whom it is about to be reckoned--
to us believing on Him who did raise up Jesus our Lord out of the dead,
Rom 4:25 who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous.
The act of
being declared righteous by God, precedes the act of God
reckoning us righteous. Reckoning occurs
in time, as Rom 4:24 states. At this point, many will now argue that it is only those who are believing that are
reckoned as righteous. This is true, but only
in time, not in the eternal decree of God. If we go back to Rom 8:30, we are told that those (
the called) who are
declared righteous are those that
will also be glorified:
Rom 8:30 and whom He did fore-appoint, these also He did call; and whom
He did call, these also
He declared righteous; and whom He declared righteous,
these also He did glorify.
To summarize this: We know that
every sinner without exception will be declared righteous by God. We also know that every sinner will, at some point
in time (through Regeneration of the Spirit) be brought to repentance, believe in Christ and the Gospel and have their account
reckoned as righteous, and also be glorified.
1Ti 2:6 who did give himself a ransom for all--
the testimony in its own times--
But again, the
declaration of righteousness and the
reckoning of righteousness are two distinct events. Our
declaration of righteousness occurred at Christ's resurrection. Our
reckoning of righteousness occurs in time at the new birth (Regeneration of the Spirit), and finally, all sinners (all the elect) will, in the end be glorified.
This is the reason IMO that Universal Salvation is real, it is true, it is scriptural, and I believe in it. Praise God for it!!
(Sorry for the length of this post, this is the last one for me on this...LOL)
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