I must be confused so please help me to understand. In the first parapgraph you say the elect must do certain things to be part of the elect. So, effectively they earn their way into heaven. Then in the next paragraph you say that our works are but dirty rags. So which is it? Do the elect have to seek constant fellowship, come to core theological understanding, and study scripture daily or are their works as dirty rags.
This, of course begs the question, why do they need to do any of this if they are predestined for heaven? Sounds like they already have their ticket stamped, so why bother?
Yes, there’s a misunderstanding, Boulder257 (Fahrenheit 451, anyone?), in my 1st paragraph I’m NOT saying “the elect must do certain things to be part of the elect”. Nope, that wasn’t my intent – nonononono; I AM saying that the elect WILL follow Christ’s teachings & seek Him diligently. I need to do better at stating things more succinctly, but I get long-windey sometimes because, well, God is worth our hearty good efforts. Maybe rephrasing the statement with a little more verbiage may help? I meant:
Those who understand Calvin’s writings should hold God’s Word in the Bible above all other direction (and the rest of what I put down). Scripture teaches that ALL (meaning everyone through all time) have sinned , from Adam on down to the whole of humanity, and we are therefore (even in the womb) already sinners who’ve failed to merit salvation, and cannot achieve heaven on our own.
I’ve only been studying Greek part-time for 2 years, so I’m in no way an expert, yet I am using “should” like the Greek term for “should” (θα πρέπει να) indicates - not the “woulda-shoulda-kinda-maybe-if-I-get-around-to-it” tense that modern American connotes, but instead is defined as a sense of financial owing – there’s no uncertainty about it. Should = Do because you owe. Therefore, someone who reads Calvin should see how Calvin points constantly to Scripture & understand that, as BeProf OSX said quite well (which was a paraphrase of an R.C. Sproul quote), “…the reality of the gospel is that we are a long dead, waterlogged corpse at the bottom of the lake and Jesus dives in, hauls us up on the beach, and breathes entirely new life into us.” Amen to that, all?
Nobody, save Jesus Christ, can earn heaven by ANY good works. Anything otherwise is simply not following Scripture. <pant, pant> Therefore, a “true Calvinist” is one who understands that Calvin repeats the same message Scripture says, which is we are ALL (everyone, not just the “everyone” in a certain way) are plagued with sin and unable to cancel out the markers of sin against us with good works. Yet, we followers of Christ will love Him and Hs Word are going to do good works to love God and show love to our fellow man. Hope that helps. I started out trying to be concise and it just kinda poured out.
BenJohnson – if the parenthetical P.S. was about my comments, I’ve never aligned with the Lutheran Church & have never read the Book of Concord. My abundance of parenthetical comments is merely due to a desire to make my points more specific/accurate & Christ-pointing after re-reading what I’d originally typed.
You bring up a good point of logic when you said, “Sounds like they already have their ticket stamped, so why bother?”
The answer is Jesus. Those who are part of the true Church will be happy to give their time, talent & treasure towards pleasing Him (and not just themselves) and following His teachings, so, even though I know there’s a spot in heaven for me, I don’t sit back and live the same debaucherous, wicked lifestyle I did before God changed and saved me. I seek to know Him better and serve my fellow man. It pleases God, and I’ve found that it pleases me to please Him.
May God comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. (a la 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)
