Do we have any part in our salvation?
This is a question of Man's Depravity and God's Sovereignty.
Humans cannot save themselves, not by works nor by thinking they have anything to do with their own salvation.
Mike Riccardi: "the nature of unbelief, the essense of spiritual death, is spiritual blindness."
How can a blind man be a seeing man? Have you ever see a blind man make him self a seeing man? No. That is impossible.
A spiritually dead person cannot make himself spiritually alive. Only God can give them spiritual life. When Jesus says you must be born again, the greek says born from above. This is about God converting people. You have no part in giving yourself spiritual life.
Who does he convert? Scripture says all who will believe. Who obeys the Gospel? Those whom God converts. Who are those people? Those whose names are written in the Lambs book of Life. When was that book written? Before the foundation of The world. Scripture is clear.
The problem is most people do not read the Bible. So they have no idea what God actually has revealed.
We have to look biblically at salvation matters "from God's point of view" and God has given us the Bible to do so on all matters. This Special Revelation [the Bible] came from God and it tells us all things from HIS view. We cannot try to look at these matters from the view of mankind, our view & thoughts are from the sinners perspective. God's view is from his sovereign and perfect view, given in truth. We cannot distort that truth just so we feel comfortable with it. We are to simply align to it. To receive it as truth. And in doing so we bow to it and align to it.
To understand the doctrine of salvation this will clarify, helpfully, from Scripture.
God bless
