The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum John 1:13

sbc_and_reformed,<br><br>Arminians simply say that membership in God's family is the gift of God, yet the imparting of the gift is dependant on man's reception of it, as the words "received" and "believe" make clear in verse 12. They agree with verse 13 that its never a human achievement but it still needs to be received.<br><br>Calvinist's understand that salvation is wholly God's work, sovereign and gracious. However the human response in believing and receiving is never cancelled. This new birth takes place by the action of the Holy Spirit giving life to those who were "dead" in trespasses and sins. (Eph.2:1) This is where Arminians and Calvinist have a significant difference. Arminians don't think that man suffered a fatal blow in the Garden of Eden but still has a free will.<br><br>So when we both look at the same verse we come away with different interpretations because of our understanding of the consequences of the original sin. The Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of resurrection from death in sin rather than the image of rebirth (Rom.6:4-6; Eph.2:5,6; Col.2:13; 3:1). Both John and Paul make it clear that its going to take an act of God. Or as John 1:13 says, "who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."<br><br><br>Wes