Not too harsh at all, my friend Istvan. Please excuse my lack of clarity in the prior post. In no way did I intend to fully categorize your personal viewpoint on this issue. By referring to Arminian and contemporary Catholicism, I did not intend to group you or stereotype you- for in truth I have not conversed enough with you to know all your views on this issue. Please forgive me.
My intention was to categorize the argument you used, not to stereotype you. Now that you have shared more of your views on this issue, I believe I do have a better understanding of your perspective, and I am willing to move forward, with trembling and fear, in the hope that God will maintain and strengthen the bond of Christ betwen us during this most convicting of conversations, and that God might use the words that follow to encourage all who read them.
In response to your question regarding to whom certain books of the Bible are addressed: In the opening of II Peter, Peter himself defines to whom he is writing. About other books of the Bible, especially New Testament texts, often the author clearly states to whom he is writing. Other books are not as clear about the intended audience. In any case, no sound student of the Scriptures would argue that the intended audience is meant to FULLY restrict the application to only that audience. But, in some cases, knowing the audience sheds significant light on understanding the text. My point is that, in this text, knowing the intended audience greatly clarifies the meaning of the text, especially given the grand momentum of God's sovereignty in all things that we see throughout the Scriptures.
Regarding your suggestion to pretend the New Testament does not exist: This is an odd idea to me. The continuity of the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, is a major foundation for sound Biblical exegesis. We must allow the Scriptures to interpret itself for us. II Timothy teaches us that "all Scripture is God-breathed", so we look to the entirety of God's Word for direction. We do see God gradually unveiling the fulness of His plan, like a rose blooming, so that Jesus Christ appears in the fullness of time to fulfill and establish the victory of God in the earth.
Does the Old Testament teach the foreknowledge and predestinating initiative of God in all things? Well, Paul uses the Old Testament to teach these very points: Romans 9 is one of God's thunderous answers to His creatures' cries of "free will" and "that's not fair". Read verses 10-18 below and tell me how you can conclude anything other than the initiative of God as the only fount of His unconditional election of His saints.
10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Pretty clear, God has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills. Thus, salvation does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God, Who has mercy. Not fair, right? This is the cry of the ages from a rebellious, fallen race. Well, keep reading in Romans 9 for God's response to that cry. Read verses 19-26 below for God's answer to "that's not fair."
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
When the sinful flesh is confronted with a God like this, it looks for any way out, any way to maintain some semblance of control. Instead, we must be like Job, who when he was confronted with the Almighty, Sovereign God of the universe, could only repent in dust and ashes. God says to Job's foolishness in 42:11 "Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine."
Job finally sees his folly and can only respond thus: (42:1-6)
Then Job answered the Lord and said:“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
In regards to your thoughts that over-emphasizing the responsibility of God will decrease a man's vision for a transformed life, where do you get this famous idea? It is nowhere to be found in Scripture. The opposite is true. Look again at John 3. There, if you will have ears to hear, you will understand that fallen man absolutely cannot SEE the kingdom of God, much less ENTER the kingdom, unless he is FIRST born from above, of the Spirit. When a man is utterly DEAD and totally unaware of his eternal and hellishly tortuous plight, and then GOD moves in and AWAKENS that man, spares that man only because of His mercy, THEN when the man sees the depths from which he has been rescued, IT IS PRECISELY THAT AWARENESS in the reborn soul that is the deepest motive of all to then be transformed, sanctified, in fulness, body and soul, for His glory.
By no means were you harsh, my friend.
This thunderous truth of the Sovereignty of God in all things is crucial because if we go wrong here, the trajectory of our thoughts is spoiled from the start. Please understand that as a brother in Christ, I view myself as fighting for you and your family in this conversation. I am for you, and it is precisely that which motivates me to speak against the false ideas of God that you are espousing. Please accept my words as from a friend who cares for you and who once believed as you.
Respectfully,
Matt
ps- And we haven't even plunged into Ephesians 1 and 2, yet!!
The existence of God is proven by the impossibility of the opposite. GB