1. Conviction
When God saves someone He first brings them under conviction. This means that He, by His Holy Spirit, convinces them of their sin, their bondage to sin and the judgment that they deserve.
Read and Discuss: Romans 3:23, Romans 7:18-20, Romans 6:23
Discussion:
Share about how God convinced you of these things. Continue reading “Your Testimony (New Convert’s Series – Lesson 1)”
The Gift of God
In the last post we looked at Ephesians 2:1-7 and asked whether Calvinism’s claim of regeneration before faith is taught in that passage; by comparing it with a similar passage in Colossians 2:12-13 we saw that Paul taught people are “raised up with Christ” through faith during baptism in water. In this post we want to look at a couple more verses in Ephesians chapter 2 that have been used as Calvinistic proof texts.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.
The Calvinist logic on these two verses is simple. Faith is a gift from God. But even more, it is a gift that we cannot reject. Simply put, no one can believe in Christ except those who are given the gift of faith, and those who are given the gift of faith by God’s unilateral grace cannot resist it.
Continue reading “A Much Abused Passage – Ephesians 2:1-10 (Part 2)”
Kingdom Theology 