A Calvinist and anyone else who actually studies and applies the proper interpretative methods will not misuse this Scripture as you are doing now.
It is quite a stretch to take a verse from a letter written to a specific church whose conduct needed correcting, and to apply it to all sinners everywhere (outside of the church) that the "
decision's up to them". Then again, Robert, you have never been one to actually stay within some
reasonable bounds.
Compare this with John's gospel (the same author) when Our Lord goes in to dine with people. It is speaking of Christ's desire for a deeper relationship with people in His Church, not salvation.
Though frequently used in evangelism, this appeal is not addressed to outsiders but to church members. It is an exhortation to the latter to rouse themselves from apathy and lukewarmness and to open their lives unreservedly to Christ so that the pre-eminence may be his alone. Christ is addressing the church.
Having said that, thankfully God does use His word to save people even if we mistakenly misinterpret the scriptures.
If you want to misuse the verse evangelically, at least interpret it in the same vein. Notice that the Lord, as it were, is pressing against the door that it may be opened. He not only knocks again and again but He also calls the sinner.
It is not the person who is inside who takes the initiative. The text is in complete harmony with the entire Bible in its teaching concerning sovereign grace. It is the Lord who is standing at, or rather, against, the door. No one has called Him. It is He who is knocking, not once but again and again. It is He who is calling, and this voice of the Lord in the gospel as applied to the heart by the Spirit is the power of God unto salvation. In this way we find that this passage does full justice both to divine, sovereign grace and to human responsibility.
AMR
