The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum true calvinism.......MJM please read

I hope you don't mind if I attempt to improve on this scenario a bit.

Over the course of many years, a very successful businessman has loaned you $1,000,000,000. You have squandered it entirely, and have no means of repaying this enormous debt. Because you cannot pay, you are thrown into prison. Unbeknownst to you, the son of this businessman, himself extraordinarily wealthy, offers to his father to pay off your debt from his own wealth. When he does, your debt is cancelled and you are released from prison.

Now, does the cancellation of your debt require that you first of all believe that the son paid it off? Not at all. The cancellation of your debt is a matter of law; it is cancelled whether you choose to believe it or not. Likewise, whether you choose to believe that you have been released from prison or not, you have been. But here's the thing: when you are sent the legal documents that secure your release by showing that your debt has been cancelled by virtue of his payment, and when the prison door is opened and you are told you are free to go, you will certainly believe that the son paid off your debt, even though you didn't see him do it.

The squandered $1,000,000,000 is your sin. The businessman is the Father. The prison is the just consequences of sin. The son is Jesus Christ. The debt which the son pays is the crucifixion of Christ. The legal documents, which secure release, are the Holy Spirit, and the release from prison itself is regeneration. In both this parable and the Gospel, the truth of what has happened is apprehended by faith, which follows after all of the work which has been accomplished by the son/Christ. This faith is only possible once you have received the legal documents/Holy Spirit and have experienced release/regeneration.