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straw said:
If the work of Christ is complete, from eternity then it makes perfect sense to say that 'making our calling and election sure' and 'striving to enter into the rest' and 'working out our salvation with fear and trembling' does mean that we may experience intial joy at the forgiveness of sins, . . . shows the eternal position of salvation. He does not half have us, but has us in His book, written by the blood that was spilled from the foundation of the world.
Straw,

Just in case you are still hanging on to the idea of "eternal salvation", which from the decretal standpoint is true but also true from the perspective of an elect individual, those texts which you referred to must be taken in context. That context is from the standpoint of one who has been justified, i.e., one who has been regenerated, received a new nature, experienced conviction of sin and consequently believed upon Christ. In other words, they apply ONLY to those who have already been united to Christ in space and time. They do not apply to anyone else; elect or not. Again, until what God has foreordained, predestined comes to pass in time, it cannot be said to exist. Perhaps if you consider that the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was foreordained in eternity, it cannot be said that He suffered, died and rose from the dead in eternity. The Son of God had to first be joined with His human body being born of the virgin Mary, grow in years, and then be crucified and finally resurrected from the dead for it to be "real".

God's eternal predestination/election doesn't save anyone in and of itself. That which is fixed in eternity includes both the end AND the means to that end! And until the "means" come to pass, that end does not exist regardless of the fact that it is eternally declared and will infallibly come to pass. If this were not true, then it would not be necessary for the elect to repent and believe upon Christ unto salvation. The Gospel would not have to be preached to the world in order to gather the elect unto Christ. And, even more so, it would not have been necessary for the Son of God to join Himself to human flesh, be crucified and resurrected in order to make atonement for those predestinated to salvation in Him.

I do hope you can grasp the importance of this truth. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Here are a couple of articles which deal directly with this issue.

1) Eternal Justification, by Louis Berkhof

2) Justification From Eternity, by G.C. Berkouwer

In His grace,

Last edited by Pilgrim; Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:28 PM.