Here is the question as originally posed along with a break down interaction below:
Full Question: “So, let me reason this way, If prevenient grace is given to everyone, and my neighbors resist it, so they are not brought to salvation (regeneration), and I don’t resist it, so I AM brought to salvation, then they merit (deserve) their condemnation, while I do not merit my salvation, even 00000.1% or so, by my not resisting. Right?
Well, is it really so? I am not sure, honestly. Something still comes from me: my non-resistance. Both my neighbors and I were given grace that enables us not to resist – they chose to resist, I chose not to resist. How can we say that my choosing not to resist God’s grace that leads to salvation is not meritorious, even if 0.000001%? What made the difference between condemnation and salvation, in the end, IS my choice. So, how can we say that I did not contribute to my salvation, when I did: by my choice?”
Response:
Question: “So, let me reason this way, If prevenient grace is given to everyone, and my neighbors resist it, so they are not brought to salvation (regeneration), and I don’t resist it, so I AM brought to salvation, then they merit (deserve) their condemnation, while I do not merit my salvation, even 00000.1% or so, by my not resisting. Right?“
Answer: Yes, that is exactly right as the first article I pointed you to well established.
Question: “Well, is it really so?“
Answer: Yes it is, because you have only freely received a gift you did not deserve and were powerless to earn. If someone else rejects it, that in no way means you suddenly deserve it. That would be absurd.
Question: “I am not sure, honestly. Something still comes from me: my non-resistance.“
Answer: So if you receive a gift from someone with full power of rejecting that gift (resisting) does that mean you earned the gift? Of course not. That would, again, be absurd.
Question: “Both my neighbors and I were given grace that enables us not to resist – they chose to resist, I chose not to resist. How can we say that my choosing not to resist God’s grace that leads to salvation is not meritorious, even if 0.000001%?“
Answer: I just explained it. The fact that someone else rejects the gift doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t all of a sudden make you worthy of the gift since you still did nothing to earn it. You just freely received it.
Question: “What made the difference between condemnation and salvation, in the end, IS my choice.“
Answer: Not really. The gift of salvation made the difference in the end. All that Christ did on your behalf made the difference in the end. All you did was receive what Christ did. Imagine how dishonoring and ridiculous it would be for you to tell someone who gave you a gift that by just freely receiving it the gift was really all of you and not of the gift giver? Or that you deserve some credit for the gift because you received it? That is essentially what you are doing here. Or imagine telling the person that because someone else rejected the gift that you therefore deserved it, bought it, contributed to it, or you gave it to yourself? Again, that would be both absurd and extremely dishonoring to the giver.
Question: “So, how can we say that I did not contribute to my salvation, when I did: by my choice?“
Answer: See above. It is absurd to suggest that we contribute to a gift by simply choosing to receive it.
Slightly edited from the comments section of this post
[Link to original post and comments on Ben Henshaw’s website]
