tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252379665580600572.post6587981736886814461..comments2015-12-26T07:13:59.168-08:00Comments on In Both Worlds: Salvation: When What?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252379665580600572.post-75758647164689084352012-11-14T05:07:49.415-08:002012-11-14T05:07:49.415-08:00Right, gotcha. :-)Right, gotcha. :-)Laura in CThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05821712556248836528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252379665580600572.post-88968359170373058962012-11-13T15:57:29.706-08:002012-11-13T15:57:29.706-08:00First in time, first in cause, or first in importa...First in time, first in cause, or first in importance, is that what you mean? I would not disagree with Spurgeon that grace comes first both temporally and causally (almost always the same immanently), the question is what aspect of grace is it that comes before faith? I would say that God's ordaining salvation and his opening our ears, or speaking to us, are a form of grace to us which must occur if we are going to have faith, and that, by nature of the message which we hear when our ears are open, that grace is, in a sense, irresistible.<br /><br />So, God ordains (grace), he speaks to us (grace), we respond (because we have heard an irresistible message), we are united to Christ (dependent on our response, but is at the same time life, which is to say, grace across all our life into eternity future). It is still all grace, because God's grace is all the necessary and sufficient cause of salvation, but our faith comes before our life in Christ, in a way. We would never be saved apart from the fact that we have been ordained to be saved, and being ordained to salvation totally guarantees that we will be saved all by itself, but our salvation rests subordinately (thus grace comes before faith in importance as well) on our faith in Christ, and the grace that fills us after salvation thus comes after faith.Ben Bushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13975620392510227526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6252379665580600572.post-56347661743515851292012-11-13T13:56:52.033-08:002012-11-13T13:56:52.033-08:00Catching up on your blog...
I've been reading...Catching up on your blog...<br /><br />I've been reading Spurgeon, who asserts that grace comes first, then faith. But maybe that's not a time order but a functional order? (Is that the word I am looking for??)Laura in CThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05821712556248836528noreply@blogger.com