This article is part 2 or a continuation of my last article entitled "God HAS Given Us Freewill. It IS Revealed In The Bible"
Please click here to read that first article.
On that last article I chose to not discuss Romans Chapter 9 (which contains verses which the Calvinists use as their strongest arguments AGAINST the belief of freewill) because that chapter contains such a lot of material and raises too many objections/questions to cover within the general topic of the last article. Quite honestly it needs a separate article all of its own. Therefore, this article serves that purpose.
Romans 9-11 go together
Anyway, long introduction, but here now is the article.
Anyone with an honest heart will have to admit that if Romans chapter 9 is saying that no-one has freewill, then that chapter sits isolated from the vast majority of the Bible which teaches otherwise. I follow the golden rule that if some isolated verses (or even a chapter) seems to say something contradictory to the rest of the Bible then it must be US who are interpreting that particular passage incorrectly. We should NEVER make a doctrine out of isolated passages – very dangerous.
Let us look at the context of Romans 9. First, who was Paul writing to? Was it Jews or Gentiles? It appears primarily Jews but also to Gentiles. Why did Paul apparently swap his line of thought in Romans 8 and insert chapters 9-11 before continuing on again in ch 12?
Some say it was a digression. Actually, if you were to read all the chapters 1 to 16, you will actually see that chapters 1 to 8 were a build up or foundation to the main thrust of his message, i.e. chapters 9-11 are the KEY to
Please click here to read that first article.
On that last article I chose to not discuss Romans Chapter 9 (which contains verses which the Calvinists use as their strongest arguments AGAINST the belief of freewill) because that chapter contains such a lot of material and raises too many objections/questions to cover within the general topic of the last article. Quite honestly it needs a separate article all of its own. Therefore, this article serves that purpose.
Romans 9-11 go together
I will now try to show how Romans chapter 9 DOES NOT deny freewill but actually reinforces it when you consider everything in its rightful context. What I have written today on this article (14 Sept. 2012) is the results of my initial investigations and study. I may add other material to this article as/when I find more.
Anyway, long introduction, but here now is the article.
Anyone with an honest heart will have to admit that if Romans chapter 9 is saying that no-one has freewill, then that chapter sits isolated from the vast majority of the Bible which teaches otherwise. I follow the golden rule that if some isolated verses (or even a chapter) seems to say something contradictory to the rest of the Bible then it must be US who are interpreting that particular passage incorrectly. We should NEVER make a doctrine out of isolated passages – very dangerous.
Let us look at the context of Romans 9. First, who was Paul writing to? Was it Jews or Gentiles? It appears primarily Jews but also to Gentiles. Why did Paul apparently swap his line of thought in Romans 8 and insert chapters 9-11 before continuing on again in ch 12?
Some say it was a digression. Actually, if you were to read all the chapters 1 to 16, you will actually see that chapters 1 to 8 were a build up or foundation to the main thrust of his message, i.e. chapters 9-11 are the KEY to