DAVE...
You seem to be ASSUMING something the verse does not remotely say, that all those for whom Christ died are given faith. Not a single verse in the Bible that remotely supports your assumption.
They are His sheep because they have faith.... Now, before you get off on that illogical point, yes, the Bible says He died for His sheep (as He did) but does NOT say your dogma.... that He died ONLY, exclusively, solely, just for a limited few.... the entire dogma of the "L" is completely missing. As you are showing, Dave. You can't find any verse that says "only."
Yes, God gives FAITH to some and not all. But that's not the "L", the "L" is that Christ DIED for only few and not most folks. And hyper-Calvinists tend to so as you are doing, just eliminate the whole issue of faith as irrelevant. You ASSUME people aren't saved because Christ failed to die for them... entirely disregarding the issue of faith as if faith as nothing to do with anything.
And "L" not only is illogical and unbiblical but terrible. It means that NO ONE can even GUESS if they are saved or not. Sure, they may have faith in Christ as their Savior but odds are, Christ is not THEIR Savior - their whole faith is in a phantom, a ghost, a fraud. But that's just one horrible application of TULIP, I reject most of it because it's simply unbiblical.
And Dave, you indicated the Bible says that Jesus did not die for the Pharisees..... and then showed it says no such thing. Let's at least agree on that. I'm looking for something that says this dogma: That Jesus died ONLY, exclusively, solely, just for a limited few. Because I have a long list of verses that out-right, flat-out, verbatim state EXACTLY the opposite of that. And all Christianity (except for a tiny, tiny few hyper-Calvinists for the past 400 years) who embrace what those Scriptures teach, the opposite of this part of TULIP.
Let me return to an illustration: Someone gives you a Starbuck's Gift Card (paid for). You don't use it. Do you thus not benefit from it? Of course not. Is the only possibility for you not benefiting from it is because you had a fake card, a fraud, a card never paid for? Could it be you simply didn't use it? Faith is to embrace/apprehend/trust/rely upon something, in this case, His atoning work. Where there is no faith there is no apprehending of such, no application to the individual, no benefit. This is why there is the Call to Faith. This is why we celebrate the gift of Faith. This is why classic Christianity does not disregard faith as irrelevant and put everything on whether you were handed a real or fraudulent card (but can't know which you have until you are at those pearly gates).
In classic Christianity, the issue is whether one has faith in Christ as their Savior. If so, they are justified. But in hyper-Calvinism, the issue is whether Christ died for THEM, is THEIR Savior (and odds are, He's not) - something they cannot even guess about but will just find out when they reach those pearly gates. Scripture never calls on Jesus to die for more, it calls on people to believe. I believe that faith is a divine gift but it IS what makes justification mine. I don't have to wonder endlessly whether Christ died for me because the bible says, over and over again, that He died for all (so I'm included, lol). The issue then is not whether what Jesus has is REAL or a FRAUD, I just rejoice in my faith that has CHRIST as its object.
- Josiah
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