The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Gospel truth

Now, now..... let's be nice, shall we? The truth here is that you are doing what is infamously called, "eisogesis", i.e., reading into the text. As J_Edwards rightly responded to you, IN THIS SPECIFIC TEXT, Paul is making a general statement concerning the death and resurrection of Christ, i.e., He died for our [sic. sinners] sins according to the Scriptures. This would be similar to me stating, "Christ died for sinners, just like you and me." I would not be making a definitive statement concerning the death of Christ for you in particular, but only that Christ died for a group of individuals who are sinners. Whether you are elect or not is not even implied. It is true that Paul taught "Definite Atonement"; but not in this text.

In a similar fashion, I have seen preachers spend more time making an "apology" for a passage of Scripture that taught man's responsibility than preaching on the text by stressing God's sovereignty. If you are going to preach/teach the Scriptures, then let the Scripture's speak as the Holy Spirit moved those holy men to write it. If one is worried about such things, then preach the next time on the complimentary doctrine. And this is what Paul did. He preached the whole counsel of God. But he didn't cram everything into one sermon or teaching session. If the text speaks about the love of God, then preach on the love of God. Don't diminish the depth of that love by constantly interjecting the fact that God is One Who also hates, etc., etc... ad nauseam.

One of the crucial things we must do in our teaching, preaching and informal speaking with others from the Scriptures is to be faithful to the CONTEXT. If I may repeat an oft used phrase, "A text out of context is nothing more than pretext!" That the Bible teaches what we call Calvinism or more specifically, the "Five Points of Calvinism" is indisputable, at least among the great majority of those who are members here. But not every text in Scripture teaches them in particular. Handling the Word of God rightly is something we all need to strive for. And from what you have written on this subject so far, it seems that you need to carefully consider this with perhaps a bit more effort.
In His grace,