BEN: One of the greatest difficulties to overcome in trying to get people to see the Bible with ancient rather than modern assumptions, is the problem of modern radical individualism warping the way we read…
Corporate Election
Ben Witherington and Chad Thornhill on *The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism*, Part 2
BEN: One of the things that surprised me about your response about the covenants is that it does not reflect the work of various OT scholars, like Meredith Kline, who made quite clear how similar…
Ben Witherington and Chad Thornhill on *The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism*, Part 1
One of the most important books I have read in a long time in regard to the theology of election in Paul’s letters is the recent book by Dr. Chad Thornhill of Liberty entitled The…
Steve Sewell, “Corporate Election in 1 Peter”
All Scripture quotations are from the 1901 American Standard Version unless otherwise noted. 1 Peter 2:3-10 3 if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious: 4 unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected…
Steve Sewell, “The Incompatibility of Calvinism and Fulfillment Theology”
All Scripture quotes are from the 1901 American Standard Version unless otherwise noted. Introduction It’s widely known that many Calvinists hold to Fulfillment Theology (FT). The reason that matters is because, I believe, FT and Corporate…
A. Chadwick Thornhill, “Election, Paul, and Second Temple Judaism”
Few issues exist in the interpretation of the New Testament which can become as contentious as questions of “sovereignty” and “free will.” Various terms like “election,” “predestination,” “foreknowledge,” etc., get thrown around in these discussions.…
Anthony Chadwick Thornhill, “To the Jew First: A Socio-Historical and Biblical-Theological Analysis of the Pauline Teaching of ‘Election’ in Light of Second Temple Jewish Patterns of Thought”
Please click on the attachment to view Anthony Chadwick Thornhill, “To the Jew First: A Socio-Historical and Biblical-Theological Analysis of the Pauline Teaching of ‘Election’ in Light of Second Temple Jewish Patterns of Thought.” This…
New Calvinist Bible – Unconditional Election (satire)
The following post is a satire, written from the perspective of an overzealous Calvinist. This post is part of a series on the New Calvinist Bible (NCB) – a new Bible translation designed to show…
Recent Debate with SEA Member Martin Glynn on Eternal Security
This was a debate that I was asked to join last minute. I had a really good time and the guys involved were true brothers in the Lord. The topic was on eternal security and…
Steve Sewell, “God’s Plan of Election (Commentary on Romans 9 – Part Two)”
Scripture quotations are from the English Majority Text Version (EMTV) unless noted otherwise. Does God Harden Hearts? (Still addressing verses 17 and 18): 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose…
Steve Sewell, “God’s Plan of Election (Commentary on Romans 9 – Part One)”
Scripture quotations are from the English Majority Text Version (EMTV) unless noted otherwise. Introduction Romans 9 is a very controversial chapter, but it shouldn’t be. All through the Word of God we learn about all…
The Early Church on Corporate and Not Unconditional Election
From William W. Klein, “Election,” in the Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, edited by Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids, we learn that the New Testament authors, apostles, and their…
Brian Abasciano, “A Response to Thomas Schreiner’s Review of My Book on Romans 9:10-18”
Thomas Schreiner reviewed my book, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.10–18: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis for the online theological journal Themelios. His review may be found here. This is the response…
Why I Am An Arminian
Part VI: Convinced by Scripture
In this final post, I’ll look at the most important reason for believing any theology: why I think Arminianism is what the Scripture teaches. One thing that you may notice though is that I am…
Why I Am An Arminian
Part IV: Theology
I do not know whether or not you have noticed, but as I’ve been going, I am moving from my least relevant reasons to my most relevant reasons as to why I am an Arminian…
Steve Sewell, “Strong Argument Against Calvinism: Romans 11:7”
“What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.” ESV (Romans 11:7) Perhaps one of the strongest arguments against the Calvinist’s view of election can…
The FACTS of Salvation
C: Conditional Election
Conditional Election (the C in FACTS) [Cf. Article 1 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] There are two main views of what the Bible teaches concerning the concept of election unto salvation: that it is…
William W. Klein, “Is Corporate Election Merely Virtual Election?”
This article can be viewed below on this page and is also contained in this pdf attachment (the pdf file retains the author’s formatting and uses footnotes while this page uses endnote style and has…
Daniel L. Migliore on Election as Corporate
The following quotes are from Daniel L. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004). The Westminster Confession of Faith, for example, states that by God’s secret decrees…
William Lane Craig on Romans 9
Here are some excellent comments on Romans 9 from Dr. William Lane Craig. (This is an excerpt from Dr. Craig’s answer to a question from an atheist, taken from http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6675.)
[L]et’s talk about Paul’s doctrine of election in Romans. I want to share with you a perspective on Paul’s teaching that I think you’ll find very illuminating and encouraging. Typically, as a result of Reformed theology, we have a tendency to read Paul as narrowing down the scope of God’s election to the very select few, and those not so chosen can’t complain if God in His sovereignty overlooks them. I think this is a fundamental misreading of the chapter which makes very little sense in the context of Paul’s letter.
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Video: Joel Korytko, “How Romans 9 Doesn’t Support Calvinism”
