tb
Rom 4:5 says nothing about believing not being a work. Believing is a Work, it is something man does ! Post 242
I'm going to try to help -- please be patient, I'm not mocking you...
Let's try that logic of yours:
There is WORK, and there is PLAY.
WORK is not PLAY; PLAY is not WORK.
WORK is something you DO, therefore WORK is WORK.
PLAY is something you DO, therefore PLAY is WORK?!?!?!
You've a serious problem with your logic.
Try to think about Romans 4:5. It is clearly saying "the one who DOES NOT WORK, but rather BELIEVES". This MEANS the person DOing the ACTION in the sentence IS NOT WORKING. It also MEANS that the person DOing the ACTION in the sentence IS BELIEVING.
Clearly, as with the WORK/PLAY example, DOing the ACTION does NOT EQUAL WORK!
In Romans 4:5 we can see easily that BELIEVING IS NOT WORKING. How much more clear could the scriptures be?
This is why you need not HIDE BEHIND IRRESISTIBLE GRACE in order to avoid WORKING for your salvation. God, as a matter of fact, ALL OVER THE BIBLE -- Commands -- Entreats -- Desires that man REPENT and BELIEVE.
You don't need your crutch of Calvinism to escape work-based salvation! Irresistible grace is the fatal flaw of Calvinistic thinking. By CONFUSING repentance and belief with work, Calvinism finds it necessary to remove REAL repentance and belief, REPLACING them with FORCED counterfeits (irresistible grace), and DENY the FACT of free will that we know is true by experience.
Notice that this is NOT about trying to take credit for salvation or put power in mankind's hands -- it's about the reality that God gave us a free will, and exercising that free will in repentance and belief in order to be SAVED BY CHRIST'S WORK is not "working" for salvation!
t.