Scripture Majority Doctrine

[B-A-C]

Majority scripture doctrine.

There are times in the Bible that it seemingly contradicts itself.
I have found oveer the years that it really doesn't... it just appears to at first glance.

Often this is because of "half verses" and verses taken out of context.
But sometimes an entire doctrine is built on this. Here are a few examples.

Eph 2:8; For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Eph 2:9; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

This verse is the core of Calvinist teaching.
But it is interpreted differently by different denominations.

For some the emphasis is on "through faith" ... and then they move to
"that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God".

Seems simple enough... right. Pretty straightforward.
Except that is digrees with dozens of other verses in the Bible.

For example .. Matt 9:22; says "your faith" .. (not God's faith)
Matt 15:28; ... "your faith" (not someone else)

In fact when things don't happen... Jesus says it's because YOU
don't have enough faith. (It's not because God doesn't have enough faith).
Matt 17:20; . because of the LITTLENESS of YOUR faith.

Mark 2:5; THEIR faith.
Mark 5:34; YOUR faith.
Mark 10:52; YOUR faith.
Luke 7:50; YOUR Faith.

Again Jesus asks the disciples... "where is YOUR faith"? Luke 8:25;

Luke 8:48; YOUR faith.
Luke 17:19; YOUR faith.

Jesus even prays for Peter ... "that YOUR faith may not fail" Luke 22:32;

There are many more... Rom 1:8; Rom 11:20; 1 Cor 25; 1 Cor 15:14;
1 Cor 15:17; 2 Cor 10:15; Php 2:17; Col 1:4; Col 2:5; 1 Thes 1:8; 1 Thes 3:2; etc... all of these verses (every one) contain the phrase "YOUR faith".

2 Cor 13:5; says test yourself... to see if YOU are in the faith.
(or should we test God to see if He is in the faith?)

So with all of these verses that seem to contradict Eph 2:8-9;
YOUR faith vs not YOUR faith (God's faith). I have two questions.

First... why would you build a doctrine on a single verse that goes against 20 other verses.

Second... it the light of this "contradiction" could it be that Eph 2:8-9; aren't really wrong or contradicting... they are just interpreted wrongly.

Perhaps the emphasis should be on "by grace" you are saved... (through faith)
and that not of yourselves... (we don't have the ability to give the grace of salvation to anyone).. This is the gift of God. Grace...

That's not to say that all men do not have faith... (at least a little).
But it's OUR faith that heals us... OUR faith that saves us... OUR faith that makes things happen.

When things don't happen... it's because of OUR unbelief ( Matt 13:58; Mark 6:6; Rom 11:20;Heb 3:19; etc... ) Does God take back the faith He gives us?
Or is it simply OUR faith that is weak sometimes?

In Romans 11... we see some of the branches were broken off of the tree...
because of "THEIR" unbelief... not Gods unbelief (does He not believe in Himself?)

Whether we have faith or not... is our decision, our choice.
It's not because God gives faith to some, but not to others.

God doesn't choose for anyone not to be saved. The danger of the doctrine
of "only God gives faith" is that when someone goes to hell, it's Gods fault.
He didn't give them enough faith. This leads to fatalism... It didn't happen, so it must have been what God planned. Sometimes things don't happen because of OUR unbelief.

But.. sometimes we get so brainwashed hearing the same phrase over and over again... it just becomes a part of our belief.

... to be continued... (more doctrines, built on single verses)

 

[rag4aCrown]

Jesus and the disciples perceived a person had the faith to be healed.

We must walk in His example and go through the rejections of the "self righteous" to grow from faith to faith and glory to glory.

Why no healing miracles in the houses? We have to get off the pew and be willing to suffer for His name sake.

Thank you Lord for the Way, the Truth and the Life. Thank you Lord when I am weak You are strong. Amen

 

[Curtis]

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son....." Jesus was a free gift given unto all men from God. Where exactly does faith come from? It only comes from a free gift given to us by God which is Jesus, the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We can never lay claim that we by our own hand have received like precious faith unless this free gift was first given unto men. Every single thing that God gives unto man is a gift, and it is only given by his grace.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

 

[amadeus2]

It is certainly not the majority or even your favorite preacher that always have it right but God alone. We can read and study scripture for a lifetime and still be wrong because we have missed God's message. Even on doctrines about we think we are very sure, we cannot close our minds and our hearts. Remember that Peter had the Holy Ghost and was following God carefully as a Jewish disciple of Christ. which excluded gentiles from the fold, when Cornelius, the gentile, was brought to his attention. Peter had a vision and Cornelius had a vision and then in the household of Cornelius the Spirit of God fell and filled the gentiles before Peter's eyes.

"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:" Acts 10:34

"And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts10:45

Are there discrepancies? Some atheists have gone to a lot of trouble to learn what they call discrepancies to cause trouble in the minds of believers who follow too much the workings of their own minds rather than the Holy Ghost.

As @B-A-C has said there really are no contradictions in the Word of God. When you find what looks like one (and you will) and you cannot find an explanation don't let it trample your faith. Ask for help.

 

[B-A-C]

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son....." Jesus was a free gift given unto all men from God. Where exactly does faith come from? It only comes from a free gift given to us by God which is Jesus

So does that mean "the world" will be saved? Everybody? If faith is Jesus and Jesus was given to the world.
Doesn't that mean the whole world is given faith?

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Is our faith always good, and for that matter is our faith always perfect? If not, does that mean it doesn't come from God?

 

[peteresther]

Faith comes by hearing...hearing is *required*, not given, not a free gift?

 

[Curtis]

So does that mean "the world" will be saved? Everybody? If faith is Jesus and Jesus was given to the world.
Doesn't that mean the whole world is given faith?

Any body can be saved if after hearing the Word of God and believing it.

 

[Curtis]

Is our faith always good, and for that matter is our faith always perfect? If not, does that mean it doesn't come from God?

If God gives you faith that is his, which he does as it comes from the Word who happens to be God, is it faulty? There is no such a thing as bad faith.

 

[Curtis]

Faith comes by hearing...hearing is *required*, not given, not a free gift?

If faith comes from the Word of God who is God, is that not a gift, or are you earning it by your own means?

 

[Curtis]

Faith comes by hearing...hearing is *required*, not given, not a free gift?

If the Word was never given as a gift to man, there would be no hearing.

 

[B-A-C]

? There is no such a thing as bad faith.

Jas 2:24; You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Jas 2:26; For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

 

[B-A-C]

1 Cor 13:2; If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

 

[Curtis]

1 Cor 13:2; If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

1Co 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,( this is impossible as it is only by the Spirit of God, who is God, can man speak in tongues) but have not love (God), I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, (This is also impossible as it is only by the Spirit of God can anything be known of God, or for any one to have true faith as faith only comes from God "the Word") so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

These only things that a man says he has, but if he does not have love (God, for God is love) he is a liar.

Rom 12:3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (NLT)

 

[Curtis]

Jas 2:24; You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Jas 2:26; For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Who is the one who does the works of man's faith?

Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Who alone by himself is love? Only God is love, and he alone is the only one who can do the works of man's faith.
This is exactly the same thing as to a man who thinks that faith alone can save him without having God who does the works of faith. It is impossible to have faith without God because that is where it comes from.

It is possible for a man to have "works" without faith, but it is impossible for a man to have faith without works.

 

[B-A-C]

Rom 12:3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (NLT)

Exactly. In fact King James puts it this way...

Rom 12:3; For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

So even though "every man" has faith. Not every man is saved.

faith, but it is impossible for a man to have faith without works.

You can have it... it's just dead faith.

James 2:14; What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
James 2:15; If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
James 2:16; and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
James 2:17; Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Luke 8:13; Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.

Does God take away their faith after "a while"?

 

[Curtis]

Exactly. In fact King James puts it this way...

Rom 12:3; For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

So even though "every man" has faith. Not every man is saved.



You can have it... it's just dead faith.

James 2:14; What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
James 2:15; If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
James 2:16; and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
James 2:17; Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Luke 8:13; Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.

Does God take away their faith after "a while"?

The parable of the sower is about the "seed" which is the Word of God, not about faith that comes from the Word of God. Why someone would fall away is described by Jesus when he tells us that by the "cares of this world, "the deceitfulness of riches", the "lusts of other things", "temptation", "being offended" enter in and chokes the Word. It is not about the failure of faith as it is written, "every one born of God has overcome the world because of their faith.".

1Jn 5:4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Not 50% of those born of God, nor 70%, but 100% of all Christians have already overcome this world, because of their faith.

 

[Curtis]

James 2:14; What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
James 2:15; If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
James 2:16; and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
James 2:17; Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Anybody can "say" they have faith, but remember people lie all the time. The proof that a person has true faith is that God himself is working through that person, and nobody knows it more than the one being used by God. God himself is the one doing the works through the one who has true faith. The only thing man can do on his own even if it is being a doer of the Word is iniquity!!
When man does the Word of God on his own he is doing iniquity, when God is the one working through his son it is called "righteousness"

 

[Vincent]

So does that mean "the world" will be saved? Everybody? If faith is Jesus and Jesus was given to the world.
Doesn't that mean the whole world is given faith?

later in John 3:18 it says if you do not believe you will be condemned.

 

[amadeus2]

later in John 3:18 it says if you do not believe you will be condemned.

It doesn't use the future tense but says rather, I believe, "condemned already". There is no need for anyone to condemn those already condemned. Those who come to believe "on him" come out of the condemnation.

 

[Vincent]

It doesn't use the future tense but says rather, I believe, "condemned already". There is no need for anyone to condemn those already condemned. Those who come to believe "on him" come out of the condemnation.

You are absolutely right. Thanks for the clarification.