The Galatians fight back

Can you imagine would it would have been like if Paul had written the letter to the Galatians to a Calvinist congregation?

The Letter of the Galatians to Paul

The Elect of Galatia, predestined to be born anew monergistically by God through the particular redemption of his Son, effectually called and secure in Christ forever.

To Paul, alleged apostle of Christ. Grace and peace to you.

We are astonished and amazed by your last epistle which came to us with great joy. But alas! Upon reading your message, our joy is turned into great sorrow. You warn us the Elect that we may not enter the kingdom of God unless we do as you say? How can you say such things to the elect of God! Do you not know that we are chosen by Him for heaven? You warn us that God cannot be mocked and that we will reap what we sow! From where do these words come? Do you not know that we are predestined for the kingdom of heaven? How can you say that if we sow to the flesh we will reap destruction? Do you not know that we are the elect and destruction is not our destiny?

I remind you that you said in your letter to us that we had 'began in the Spirit.' You yourself reminded us that miracles were done among us through Him supplying the Spirit to us. You yourself reminded us that we are sons of God having been clothed with Christ and because we are sons of God, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts who cries 'Abba Father.' You yourself reminded us in this selfsame letter that we had been set free and were children of the promise. In this way, you yourself admit that we were born anew.

And now you warn us that we might not enter the kingdom of heaven and we may rather reap destruction based on our behavior rather than God's election?!?! How can you tell such a bold lie dear Paul? For do you yourself not know that we who are saved cannot possibly end in the flesh? Do you not know that it is impossible for us not to enter the kingdom of God, we who have began in the Spirit? What sense can your words ever make to us? For we all know that those who have been born again (and you have attested that we were), cannot escape entering the kingdom of God. For God chose us to heaven and our behavior between now and then cannot change our destiny since it was determined before the creation of the world. Are you not aware of five point Calvinism?

There, we can only hope that your letter is a result of drinking too much of that Macedonian wine dear friend. Else we fear that you were never saved in the first place and we wonder how it is that you brought us new birth. We can only pray that no unsuspecting men consider your letter to the Galatian church as inspired by God. For it is impossible for us who were once born again to end up in any other place than heaven and such warnings to us that the born again might not enter the kingdom have no partnership with reality. Your letter cannot be the word of God.

Can you imagine preaching Paul's inspired message to Calvinists? Imagine how Calvinists would react if you wrote a letter like Galatians and warned them they would not enter the kingdom of God if they continued in their present behaviour. They would reject the message because they do not believe that not entering the kingdom is a possibility. Thus we must ask, "Do they nullify the word of God, as preached by Paul, for the sake of their tradition?"

 

PL, please explain why Paul would warn those sons of God who had began in the Spirit at Galatia, that they would reap what they sow and if they sowed to the flesh they would not enter the Kingdom of God but reap eternal destruction.

 

Because it was possible that not all had the Spirit and were truly born again. That is the point of the warnings. They are evidences of being born again. Is this really that unfamiliar to you?[/qb]</font>[/QUOTE]And so when Paul says that those who had began in the Spirit were ending in the flesh, he was not talking about the same people that he was talking about when he made the warning about not entering the Kingdom of God right PL?

PL, please think your responses through more carefully. I am well aware of all these Calvinist contrivances like this and am prepared for such repsonses like this.

To a degree, yes. [/b][/QUOTE]

How much of a degree?

 

Pastor Larry,

Notice the following and please identify for us the identity of the people "YOU" in the following verses:

To the churches of Galatia.... I am amazed that YOU are so quickly deserting Him who called YOU

YOU foolish Galatians, who has bewitched YOU,

Having begun by the Spirit, are YOU now being perfected by the flesh?

For YOU are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Because YOU are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

And YOU brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.

YOU were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

I warn YOU, just as I have warned YOU before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Do you really expect people to believe Paul is suddenly speaking to a completely different "YOU" when he arrives at Galatians 5:21?

 

I am still waiting for a Calvinist here to explain where he got his inside information that Paul was speaking to two different sets of people at different times in this letter and how you know when he was speaking to one group as oppposed to the other.

Put another way, when you write a letter to someone and use the word YOU, is it not reasonable that it refers to the object audience and not whoever someone would like it to be identifying?

 

And would you agree the church of Galatia to whom Paul is speaking are those "sons of God," "children of the promise," and those who had "began in the Spirit?"

I warn YOU, Church of Galatia, just as I have warned YOU before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So then PL, WHO exactly was Paul warning?

 

So far all you have said is that we are supposed to imagine that there were some non-regenerate people in the Galatian church and you have some inside information that this is who Paul was speaking to when he gave his warning about not entering the Kingdom of God.

Where is your evidence that this is who Paul was talking to and why should we believe that he was talking to born again believers in this letter but was suddenly speaking to unregenerate people in at Galatians 5:21? Where is the evidence for this claim of yours?

 

I have aosolutely NO REASON whatsoever to suppose that Paul is speaking to anyone else but who he identified that he was speaking to and EVERY REASON to believe he is speaking to those he identified he was speaking to. A letter is TO someone and so when he says "YOU" in the letter it is common sense to understand he is speaking to the people to whom he wrote the letter. Paul identifies just WHO he is speaking to many times and in many ways in this letter. Yet, you would have us believe that we should imagine that he is speaking to someone else altogether when he gives his warning.

So what are YOUR reasons?