Reformed References

Leader: This is meant to be a reference for your benefit and the benefit of the group. These topics have already come up during the study and they will come up in greater detail in your study of Romans 9. Some of my thoughts are listed below but have a look through Monergism.com’s page titled Doctrines of Grace, it’s an excellent resource for some deep topics.

What was the first covenant?

Genesis 1:16-17 – Do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Hosea 6:7)

Genesis 8:21 – God’s covenant between Noah and God, and indirectly all men and God.

Gen 17:7 – I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Gen 28:15 – I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

Rev 21:3-4 – And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Is the first covenant still valid?

In Romans 9:6 what does Paul mean by “it is not as though the Word of God has failed?”

In Romans 9:11, “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” What is the tangential statement Paul adds “so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls” mean? There was discussion that it could mean two things:
1) Paul is alluding to what he will elaborate on in verses 9:14-29, essentially that it is God who chooses and calls His elect not because of the works they committed in the past or works they will commit once they are saved, but for His purposes according to His choice.
2) Paul is proving his point that people are saved by faith and not by race or who their father was, so he is completing his argument that even though the twins were grandsons of Abraham, only one was of the promised lineage.

choice: 1 Th 1:4, 2 Peter 1:10: variation to choice: Acts 9:15, Romans 11:5
purpose: Ephesians 1:11, 3:11
works: Gal 2:16, 3:2, 5,10, James 2:18-26
calls: Rom 4:17, Gal 1:6, 15, 5:8, 13, 1 Th 2:12,

Election/predestination
Ephesians 1:4-14
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Ephesians 2:10
Col 1:25-27, 3:12
2 Thes 2:13
2 Tim 1:9

Free-will:
1) The will of man seems only to be described in the Scriptures as being in bondage to sin or a slave to the Spirit
2) Philemon 14 states a free will in terms of giving an offering without being forced to
3) We came to God one way, we ask that others would come to God in a different way
4) It seems to exist that we are chosen, but we are called to live out a holy life. There is a mystery here, we cannot bind ourselves to one doctrinal system or another if it causes us to disbelieve one of these truths. Romans 12:1,2 Col 3:12, 1 Peter 1:2

This then raises the question that must be nailed down:
How are we saved? What is the process?

We confess that “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) to such an extent that “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God;” (Romans 3:10,11) therefore, God says to us that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;” (John 6:44) and we have confidence in His drawing because Christ tells us “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (John 6:37) “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes” (John 5:21) “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined…and those whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:29,30) therefore “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20a) . So we believe that “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.” (John 3:27) “and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3) and praise God “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3)

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, the He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)

“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;” (Acts 1:8)

“And it shall be in the last days, God says, That I will pour forth of my Spirit on all mankind;” (Acts 2:17)

“blessed are you, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in Heaven” (Matt 16:17)

“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27)

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 – sovereignty of God

Deuteronomy 32:39

Psalm 33:11

Election:
Psalm 65:4 – “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple”
Matt 24:24 – “Even the elect”
John 6:37 – “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me”
John 15:16 – “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit”
Acts 13:48 – “and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed”
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
1 Thess 1:4 – “His choice of you”
1 Thess 5:9 – destined for salvation

Non-election:
1 Peter 2:8 – “to this doom they were also appointed”