The hours and days following the horrifying murder and arson at a Latter-day Saints church service in Michigan was not the time to parse theological identities. However, many used the tragedy as an opportunity to offer their answer to a question that has grown in importance and controversy in recent years: “Are Mormons truly Christian?”

Pew Research lists Latter-day Saints among “All Christians,” along with Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Mormons not only call themselves Christian, it’s in their name, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

However, to borrow from Shakespeare, naming a flower a rose doesn’t make it smell just as sweet. Though Mormonism uses similar concepts and terms as Christianity, what is meant is often very different from what Christianity teaches. As Lukus Counterman put it at The Gospel Coalition, “While both Mormons and historic Christians believe in ‘Jesus Christ,’ they’re referring to different people.”

Mormonism began in the early 19th century on what was then the American frontier. So many new religious groups were sparked in that part of New York state, the region became known as the “burned-over district.” Many of these new movements claimed to know what everyone else in Church history had missed.

While many of these groups added or subtracted from biblical teaching, Joseph Smith claimed to have received a series of expansive visions that completely rewrote the script on Christianity. While Marcion in the second century and Thomas Jefferson in the 19th subtracted what they didn’t like from the Bible, Smith crafted Mormon doctrines by adding three books, each with concepts unlike anything in the Bible. This led to a reimagined understanding of God from anything that Christians have preached since the Apostles. In fact, the Mormon view of God is even more extraordinary than the more notorious aspects of Mormon doctrine and practice, including special undergarments, polygamy, and that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri.

Mormon theology is simply incompatible with the Christian understanding of God. Christians see God as eternally existing from before all time and creation. Mormons claim God has not always been as He is. As Joseph Smith put it in a sermon in 1844,

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret … I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form … I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.

Further, in Mormonism, the Godhead is made of three distinct beings, or three gods. Their unity is “one of purpose,” but not, as the Christian doctrine of the Trinity clarifies, of one nature.

Another key difference is who and what Jesus is. Christianity has always taught that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, a full member of the Trinity, “begotten not made.” He has always existed, but at the Incarnation He took on flesh and came to Earth, remaining then and now as fully God and fully man. In Mormonism, Jesus is God’s natural son, the offspring of the Father and a “Heavenly Mother.” All human beings are also God’s children in this way, according to Mormon doctrine, having lived in Heaven before our conception and birth.

In other words, Mormons and Christians hold different and incompatible views about God, Jesus, humans, sin, salvation and the Church.

As many people can attest, Mormons are often wonderful people. Despite some oddities, like not being able to drink coffee, they are often moral allies in an increasingly immoral society. However, Mormonism is not Christian, because Mormons and Christians do not worship the same God.

As a friend often says, this is a case in which sharing vocabulary does not mean sharing a dictionary. Sharing certain convictions of morality does not imply sharing a theology, Christology, anthropology, soteriology, ecclesiology, or eschatology. Watering down the truth is not only unhelpful, it is an insult to both groups.

Source Authors: originally published at BreakPoint. 

The doctrine of predestination often offends and triggers many with a bias against Calvinism. I prefer to view it as an important biblical doctrine easily defended by scripture. In addition to the doctrine of election being primarily held by Calvin, I include the evangelist John Wesley’s views on sanctification, which I believe conjoin with the doctrine of election.

It is simply the teaching of scripture that many theological camps agree on. In my studies, the scriptural view of Election works in harmony with the scriptural view of Sanctification.

Scripture, indeed, bears strong testimony to this doctrine, since it is a matter of supreme importance, yielding a proper understanding of the Lord’s will regarding the way of salvation. The doctrine inspires genuine sanctification and a love for our trinitarian God. Scripture refers to the election of a predestined group of people in a variety of ways. I have also written about how faith in the gospel message is operative and how all who call upon the Lord will be saved.

This indicates that those who follow the Lord will move towards holiness, allowing a transformation to continue by the indwelling Spirit, convicting our lives to submit to His Word in agreement. The following quotes from John Wesley, who believed that though we will be tempted, we will need to repent daily. His following words are not a contradiction — but rather, a paradox in line with Luke 13:24 NLT: “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail.” See also: Hebrews 4:11 ESV: “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Elect in Isaiah 42:1 NKJV: “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles” and 1 Pet. 1:20: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.”

The holy angels have been elected to an eternal and permanent state for God’s service to assist the elect people who follow Christ. Please understand this distinction — the Lord Jesus has been chosen or elected by the Father for the salvation of men and not angels. As God and man, however, Christ is exalted above the angels who worship Him and whom He, as Lord, uses according to His will to the benefit of His elect. ⁴

These holy angels have been chosen by God, which explains why they are called “elect” 1 Timothy 5:21: I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.

Some people are elected to a specific office, such as a government position, as Saul was chosen to be king. 1 Samuel 10:24: “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen?” This was also true when he was rejected. 1 Samuel 16:1: “I have rejected him from being king”.

Others are chosen to a ministerial office, as was Judas, who was also chosen to be an apostle. John 6:70: “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” This reveals how God elects people for specific purposes — eleven of His disciples to carry His gospel forward, one to use a man who would betray Him, all methods within the plan of redemption, all of which conjoin to redeem His sanctified elect to glorify His name.

The predestined elect children of God

This manner of election is not under discussion here, but rather the election of some people unto salvation. It signifies a determination of a matter before it exists or transpires to bring it to a certain end as defined in Acts 4:28 NAS: “…to do whatever Your hand and purpose predestined to occur.” This is further confirmed in 1 Corinthians 2:7, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.”

It is this word predestined which is used to refer to man’s destiny and the means whereby they obtain this salvation. Ephesians 1:11, 5: “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined… Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” In Romans 8:29-30 our predestined calling and election are for the divine purpose of sanctification unto holiness – a transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit into Christ-likeness, with an obedient holy viewpoint, being led by the Spirit: “For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…And those whom he predestined he also called.”

Election refers to a foreknowledge of God, characterized by love and delight. For this purpose, Christ is referred to as “the elect of God” (Isaiah 42:1 NKJ), as stated in 1 Peter 1:20: He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.

Here, election pertains to those called by the Spirit to follow the Lord Jesus: Romans 8:28-30 ESV: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose…” And here is God’s purposed destination of the elect, the called, which I emphasize:

“…for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

This ties in with “for the LORD knows the way of the righteous” (Psalm 1:6); and “But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” (2 Tim. 2:19).

Believers are therefore called “elect… according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Pet. 1:2). It signifies election itself. “God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew” (Rom. 11:2); “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate” (Rom. 8:29, 9:11). Paul makes it clear that God does predestinate people to salvation. Again, in Ephesians 1:11 ESV: In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will… (see also Acts 13:48)

^{1 John Wesley, The Holy Spirit and Power}

^{2 Ibid}

^3Ibid

^{4 Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 1992), 211.}

God’s purpose is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Eph. 1:10 NIV), including the marriage and family relationship (Eph. 5:21–6:4), so that, per Paul’s prayer, “to him be glory in the church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:21).

Concerning Jesus’ teaching, we have seen that Jesus affirmed God the creator’s original plan for marriage, quoting both Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 (Matt. 19:4–6 and paragraph.). By this, our Lord strongly and emphatically confirmed that God’s original design for marriage (with the husband as the head and the wife as the submissive, supportive partner) continued to obtain for Christians rather than being replaced by a different plan (such as an egalitarian one). Another point of interest is that Jesus indicated that he came not to bring peace, but a sword, and faith in him (or lack thereof) would divide families (Matt. 10:34–36 and pars.). Hence allegiance to Christ and his kingdom must have priority over natural family ties. This, as will be seen, injects a crucial dose of realism into any approaches to church structure that work from the ideal intact family unit where the father is the head of the household. In many nuclear families, the father is either not a believer or absent altogether.

Jesus noted that there will be no marriage in heaven (Matt. 22:30) and explained that some even in this age would choose to remain unmarried “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12). Taken together with Paul’s discussion of singleness in 1 Corinthians 7, this sheds an important eschatological light on the question of marriage and family in the church. It shows that marriage, while divinely instituted in the beginning and continuing to be in effect until the final consummation, is part of “the present form of this world” which “is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). God’s kingdom, on the other hand, endures forever (Rev. 11:15; 22:5).

Paul, likewise, in Ephesians 5:21–6:4, directed his commands to Christian husbands, wives, and children, calling on wives to submit to their husband, on husbands to love their wife sacrificially and to nurture her spiritually, on children to obey their parents and to honor them, and on fathers to train and instruct their children in the Lord rather than exasperating them or treating them harshly.

Since work relationships also were set within the context of the extended family unit, instructions for servants and masters were issued as well (Eph. 6:5–9). Thus the household continued to be the central unit in the New Testament era, and proper allowance was made for those households where one of the members (including spouses) may not have been a Christian (e.g., 1 Cor. 7:12–16; 1 Pet. 3:1–2).

Also, the same authority structure and call on the husband and father to protect and provide , both in the Old Testament and New Testament. Paul’s teaching lays out important biblical principles for marital and familial roles.

^{1 Curated Study Material from my Library: David W. Jones and Andreas J. Köstenberger, God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 251.}

The heart of New Covenant theology: inward transformation by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:3), intimate relationship with God, and the law written on the heart.

Jeremiah 31:34  – “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Christ’s atonement for our sin is central here: “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,   “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Note this carefully — sin is forgiven by accepting Christ as Lord: Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Heb 10:12–18.

Universal knowledge of God and full forgiveness are New Covenant blessings, realized in Christ (Heb. 8:10-12).

Jeremiah 31:35-40 – Hover over these verses, which declare the certainty and permanence of God’s covenant promises, using the stability of creation as a guarantee. God’s promises are as unbreakable as the created order. The New Covenant is eternally secure in Christ (John 10:28-29).

Sources

• Enduring Word Bible Commentary Jeremiah 31
• Precept Austin Jeremiah 31 Commentary
• Ligonier Ministries: The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31)
• Theology of Work: Jeremiah 30–33
• Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Jeremiah 31

St. Paul’s three chapters in Romans 6–8 emphasize the believer’s union with Christ, the tension between justification and ongoing sanctification, and the transformative power of grace. His analysis integrates forensic justification with the practical reality of spiritual warfare, culminating in the assurance of victory through the Spirit. Below is a verse-by-verse breakdown of his theological framework:

Romans 6: Death to Sin, Life in Christ

This chapter establishes believers’ definitive break with sin through their union with Christ’s death and resurrection. Key elements include:

• Freedom from sin’s legal dominion: Justification frees believers from sin’s penalty and power. The text “he who has died has been freed from sin” (Rom 6:7) signifies that Christ’s death legally dissolves sin’s claim over the believer, rendering them no longer bound to its consequences.

• Baptism as a symbolic union: Baptism represents the believer’s identification with Christ’s death (Rom 6:3–4), marking a transfer from Adam’s lineage to Christ’s new creation..

• Ethical imperative: Freedom from sin is not license for indulgence but a call to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). Grace empowers obedience, rejecting the notion that justification permits licentiousness (Rom 6:15).

Romans 7: The Struggle with Indwelling Sin

This chapter as a spiritual autobiography of the believer’s tension between their justified status and the lingering presence of sin. Key insights:

• The law’s role: While the law is holy (Rom 7:12), it exposes humanity’s incapacity to achieve righteousness through works. The “wretched man” (Rom 7:24) embodies the Christian’s struggle against the flesh, even after regeneration.

• Dual service: Believers serve God’s law with their minds but battle the “law of sin” in their flesh (Rom 7:25). This paradox reflects the “simultaneously righteous and sinful” reality.

• No condemnation in Christ: The chapter’s despair resolves in the doxology of Romans 7:25a—“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ!”—pointing ahead to the assurance of Romans 8:17.

Romans 8: Victory Through the Spirit

This chapter is the climactic resolution of the preceding struggles, centered on the Spirit’s work:

• No condemnation: The declaration “there is now no condemnation” (Romans 8:1) reaffirms justification’s security, grounding believers in Christ’s finished work rather than their fluctuating spiritual performance.

• Spirit-led transformation: The Spirit empowers believers to fulfill the law’s righteous requirements (Romans 8:4), replacing the “mindset of the flesh” with life and peace (Romans 8:6).

• Eschatological hope: The “groaning” of creation (Rom 8:22–23) and the Spirit’s intercession (Rom 8:26–27) assure believers of their future glorification and eternal security in God’s love (Rom 8:38–39).

Theological Synthesis

• Justification and sanctification: Forensic justification (legal freedom from sin’s penalty) harmonizes with transformative sanctification (ongoing renewal by the Spirit). The believer’s identity in Christ (Rom 6:11) fuels ethical living.

• Law and grace: The law’s condemnation (Rom 7:7–12) is answered by grace’s dominion (Rom 6:14), which enables obedience without legalism.

• Union with Christ: The entire passage hinges on the believer’s incorporation into Christ’s death and resurrection, making sanctification a participation in His victory..

Romans chapters 6 to 8 reflect St. Paul’s broader emphasis on grace-driven reformation, where doctrinal truth fuels personal holiness and societal transformation.

Transformation in Romans 6, 7, and 8

When the scriptural guidelines are understood, it becomes clear that all atomic movement in the universe and among his creation only occurs with Christ’s oversight and allowance. This makes sense since he is the co-creator of this world. (Col 1:15-18)

There seems to be nothing in Scripture that would indicate that some things are outside God’s providential control, or that these ways of God’s acting are unusual or unrepresentative of the ways in which he acts generally. Moreover, many of the verses that speak of God’s providence are very general: Christ “continually carries along all things by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3), and “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). He “accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). Such Scripture passages have in view more than exceptional examples of an unusual intervention by God in the affairs of human beings; they describe the way God always works in the world. ¹

Notably, two historic, well-studied church leaders, John Calvin and John Wesley, agree on the importance of understanding the doctrine of Providence for our Christian encouragement, albeit their differences of view.

Ignorance of providence is the ultimate of all miseries; the highest blessedness lies in this knowledge. – John Calvin

Among the foremost classic Christian doctrines, “there is scarce any that is so little regarded, and perhaps so little understood” as providence. – John Wesley

Here, we will begin with a the following excerpt from Wilhelm Braekel, Puritan Theologian. The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Edited by Dr Joel Beeke. ²

Consider the providence of God concerning all His creatures…that is, the immediate provision for, and dispensation of all things. This is to be observed in Genesis 22:8, “God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” Providence is also referred to as ordinance (Psa. 119:91), God’s way (Psa. 77:13), God’s hand (Acts 4:28, 17:28), God’s upholding (Heb. 1:3), God’s working (Eph. 1:11), God’s government (Ps. 93:1), and God’s care (Job 12:10, 1 Pet. 5:7, Acts 17:28).

The Heidelberg Catechism clearly and devoutly describes providence as follows: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand; that we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.

Providence is a divine power. This is not merely due to providence being executed by the omnipotent One, but particularly in reference to the extrinsic execution of this power towards His creatures. It is therefore stated with emphasis, “And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had gone out of Him …” (Mark 5:30). Providence is an omnipotent power. When perceiving the magnitude of the work of creation; the innumerable number of creatures; the unfathomable diversity of their natures and appearance; the existence and continuation of each created object according to its own essential nature; the movement of animate, rational, and inanimate creatures; the precise order of all things both as to movement and the manner in which one object initiates the motion and progression of another object—one must lose himself in amazement regarding the infinite power and wisdom of God by which all things are maintained and governed. By this power God irresistibly executes whatsoever He wills, and no one can prevent Him from doing so. “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27); “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa. 46:10).

Providence is an omnipresent power of God. This is not merely true in reference to the omnipresent Being of God, but particularly in reference to His energizing power in all His creatures. This power of God does not merely manifest itself generally in all things. Neither does it merely affect the initial secondary causes, which in turn further initiate motion and activity in all other secondary causes. This power of God penetrates the existence of every creature, and thus, in an immediate sense and via all secondary causes, affects the ultimate outcome of all things. The power of God is therefore in all things and manifests itself in all that exists and moves. If we had clear perception, we would observe this power in everything.

^{1 Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 342.}

^{2 Excerpt: Wilhelm Braekel, Puritan Theologian. The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Edited by Dr Joel Beeke.}

We herein primarily focus on Ephesians 2:1–7. While Jesus and Peter explain regeneration through the imagery of birth, Paul explains regeneration through the imagery of resurrection from the dead. As the theologian Dr. Hoekema states, for Paul, “regeneration is the fruit of the Spirit’s purifying and renewing activity, that it is equivalent to making dead persons alive, that it takes place in union with Christ, and that it means that we now become part of God’s wondrous new creation.” ¹ Paul speaks of God making dead persons alive in Ephesians 2: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1–7)

In Ephesians 2 we see a powerful picture of what takes place in regeneration. The sinner is dead but God makes him alive. The sinner is in the grave but God resurrects him from the dead. Notice that, contrary to Arminianism, there is no contingency or intermediate stage here in which God begins to make a sinner alive whereby the further outcome of that act is dependent upon the sinner’s decision. Rather, the transition is immediate, instantaneous, and unilateral as the sinner is at one moment dead and the next moment alive (Ephesians 2:10). The situation is comparable with the resurrection of Christ. Christ was dead but God in great power resurrected him bodily from the grave (Ephesians 1:19–20). Or consider Lazarus, who was dead, rotting in the tomb for days, and suddenly, at the command of Christ, was resurrected and walked out of the tomb alive (John 11). The theologian Reymond observes, “The conclusion cannot be avoided that God’s regenerating work must causally precede a man’s faith response to God’s summons to faith.”

Moreover, the sinner who is “made alive” is in a situation not only comparable to Christ’s, but also receives new life that is actually found in and with Christ. Paul states that God made us alive together with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), so that in the coming ages we would know the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ. Paul’s readers have come to life with Christ, who was dead and rose again; their new life, then, is a sharing in the new life which he received when he rose from the dead.

It is only in union with him that death is vanquished and new life, an integral part of God’s new creation, received. Because the believer’s previous condition has been spoken of as a state of death (Ephesians 2: 1, 5), there is no direct reference to Christ’s death or to the believer’s participation in it. Instead, the sharp contrast between our former condition outside of Christ and being made alive with him is presented. The theologian O’Brien is right in identifying being made alive with the resurrection of Christ. As Sinclair Ferguson states, “Regeneration is causally rooted in the resurrection of Christ” (1 Peter 1:3).

Like produces like; our regeneration is the fruit of Christ’s resurrection.” It is Christ’s resurrection which is the very basis of the sinner’s coming to life with Christ, as is further demonstrated in Ephesians 2:6 where the sinner is raised up and seated in Christ. Our spiritual resurrection to new life is made explicit by what Paul contrasts it to, namely, deadness in trespasses and sins and bondage to the world (“following the course of this world,” Ephesians 2:2); and Satan (“following the prince of the power of the air,” Ephesians 2:2); and the flesh (“once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,” Ephesians 2:3). Like the rest of mankind we were “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Therefore, being made alive, as O’Brien states, implies not only forgiveness, but also “liberation from these tyrannical forces.” Paul’s words here in Ephesians 2 closely parallel his words in Colossians: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Col. 2:13; cf. Rom. 6:11).

Finally, Paul also states that being made alive together with Christ is by grace (“by grace you have been saved”). O’Brien comments, “He draws attention to a mighty rescue which arose out of God’s gracious initiative, which had already been accomplished in Christ, and which has abiding consequences for them: it is by grace you have been saved.” As seen throughout Paul’s epistles, grace stands opposed to merit or any contribution on the part of man (Ephesians 2:8–10). ²

Grace is God’s favor toward sinners in spite of what they deserve (Rom. 3:21–26; 4:4; 5:15). The word “save” (“by grace you have been saved”) can and is many times used to refer to an eschatological reality, the deliverance from God’s wrath and final judgment. As Dr Thielman observes, in some passages Paul can “describe it [saved] as an ongoing event in the present (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2; 2 Cor. 2:15) and say, ‘Now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. 6:2; cf. Isa. 39:8). But Paul “normally refers to it as something believers will experience in the future, presumably at the final day (1 Thess. 2:16; 1 Cor. 3:15; 5:5; 10:33; Rom. 5:9–10; 9:27; 10:9; 11:26).

However, as O’Brien explains, the case differs in Ephesians 2, for “saved” refers specifically to what “has already been accomplished and experienced.” It describes a “rescue from death, wrath, and bondage and a transfer into the new dominion with its manifold blessings. In a roundabout way, the periphrastic perfect construction draws attention to the resulting state of salvation.” Paul is referring to salvation as something that is “emphatically present for believers” even though the “use of the perfect tense in Ephesians 2:5, 8 for salvation is unusual.” 3

Paul does draw our attention to the future eschatological consequences of this salvation in verse Ephesians 2:7, being seated with Christ in the coming age. However, in Ephesians 2:5–6 Paul shows that being saved by grace means that God making us alive together with Christ is also by grace. Therefore, being made alive or regenerated is neither an act that is accomplished by man’s works of righteousness nor an act conditioned upon man’s willful cooperation. Rather, being made alive is by grace and by grace alone, meaning that it is purely by God’s initiative, prerogative, and power that the sinner is resurrected from spiritual death.

Grace is not merely unmerited favor in the sense that one may choose to receive or reject a gift. Grace is the impartation of new life. Grace is a power that raises someone from the dead, that lifts those in the grave into new life. Grace is not merely an undeserved gift, though it is such; it is also a transforming power. Grace imparted life when we were dead, and grace also raises us and seats us with Christ in the heavenlies. (Ephesians 2:6)

Therefore, it will not do to say with the Arminian that God’s grace is a gift to be accepted or resisted. Yes, God’s grace is a gift, but more than that it is a powerful gift that actually and effectually accomplishes new life as God intends.

The Puritan, Matthew Henry notes: Those who have experienced the grace of Christ for a longer time are under more special obligations to glorify God; they should be strong in faith and glorify him more eminently. Yet to glorify him should be the common goal of all. We were made for this, and we were redeemed for this; this is the great intention of our Christianity and of God in everything he has done for us: it is unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14). He intends that his grace and power and other perfections will by this means become clearly visible and glorious, and that his people will exalt him.

Further Henry states: Election, or choice, respects that lump or mass of mankind out of which some are chosen, from which they are separated and distinguished. Predestination has respect to the blessings they are designed for; particularly the adoption of children, it being the purpose of God that in due time we should become his adopted children, and so have a right to all the privileges and to the inheritance of children. We have here the date of this act of love: it was before the foundation of the world; not only before God’s people had a being, but before the world had a beginning; for they were chosen in the counsel of God from all eternity. (Ephesians 1:4)

I like to summarize it this way: God predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— not our free will alone. Free will must be preceded by God’s will to chose us, then He opens our minds to the Spirit’s proclamation of the gospel when heard, as he in continuum also sends the teaching preacher to reveal Christ to that individual.

^{1 Theologian notes: The Effectual Call of Election, Ron Rhodes} 

^{2 Ibid}

^{3 Ibid}

^{4 Ibid}

Man’s willful bondage to sin precipitated his need for God’s grace. We will examine the theological doctrine of effectual calling and regeneration and the difference between Monergism and Synergism.

The Westminster Confession, chapter 10, puts it very well:

10.1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call [Rom. 8:30; 11:7; Eph. 1:10, 11], by his Word and Spirit [2 Thess. 2:13–14; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6], out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ [Rom. 8:2; Eph. 2:1–5; 2 Tim. 1:9–10]: enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God [Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 2:10; 12; Eph. 1:17–18], taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh [Ezek. 36:26]; renewing their wills, and, by his almighty power determining them to that which is good [Ezek. 11:19; Phil. 2:13; Deut. 20:6; Ezek. 36:27], and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ [Eph. 1:19; John 6:44–45]; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace [Song of Songs 1:4; Ps. 110:3; John 6:37; Rom. 6:16–18].

10.2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man [2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:4–5; Eph. 2:4–5, 8–9; Rom. 9:11], who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit [1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:5], he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it [John 6:37; Ezek. 36:27; John 5:25].

What have we learned from these portions of the Westminster?

First, only those whom God has predestined for life are effectually, truly called and regenerated, contrary to the Arminian view which only sees God’s calling as universal going out to all people on earth. Second, God effectually calls and regenerates spiritually dead sinners to new life by his Word and Spirit and by the grace of his Son Jesus Christ. Here Westminster draws from the biblical metaphors by stating that the Spirit enlightens the mind to understand (Eph. 1:17–18), takes away the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh [as with feeling, heart-felt respondent to God’s love and the Grace offered the chosen] (Ezek. 36:26), renews the will, and effectually draws the sinner to Jesus Christ (John 6:44–45). Yet, though the Spirit’s drawing is effectual, nevertheless, man comes most freely, “being made willing by his grace.” The will, therefore, is renewed and made willing to believe.¹

Moreover, notice the order in which Westminster places God’s grace in reference to man’s faith. In 10.2 Westminster states that the effectual call is purely of God’s grace so that man is absolutely passive. It is only when the sinner has been “quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.” In other words, man’s answer to the call only comes after the Spirit has “quickened and renewed” and not before. ²

Westminster’s understanding of grace—which was restated by John Owen and Thomas Goodwin’s Savoy Declaration (1658) and the Second London Confession (1677, 1689) of the Particular Baptists—once again demonstrates, as was the case with Augustine, Calvin, and Dort, that it is God’s grace which must precede any activity (faith included) on the part of the dead sinner. ³

Until God effectually calls and regenerates the sinner, no faith will be present. To reverse this order would be to exalt man’s will over God’s grace. One of the main reasons the Puritans in England detested Arminianism. In other words, it “inclines men to pride” by allowing “man’s participation in the work of his salvation.” ⁴

Arminianism also referred to as Wesleyanism, means that man’s will via his own volitionary will, activates his own faith in Christ by his own acceptance of the Bible’s teaching, via his reasoning faculties, and firms up the process of Salvation in cooperation with God. This opposes the above presentation of the Westminster’s scriptural proof that God alone calls and then activates man’s acceptance via His Spirit to acquiesce to His call to come to Christ.

E. Brooks Holifield…states, “The defining mark of Reformed theology was its regard for the glory of God, which entailed a pronounced insistence on divine sovereignty.” ²

Calvinists have defined and defended Monergism [meaning saved by God’s intervening Grace alone] as a necessary ingredient to the sovereignty of divine grace which alone can preserve God’s glory. What then is the implication for evangelicals today? Michael Horton answers that Arminian and Wesleyan Synergism can no longer be an option for Protestants committed to the Reformation. ³

Synergism means ‘working together’, while monergism means “one work”. Synergists believe that two forces are required to bring about the saving of a soul – the Holy Spirit and the will of man. If a person resists the Holy Spirit, then synergists believe there will be no ‘working together’ to achieve that person’s salvation, which is a convolution of scriptural truth.

ESV Scriptural Proofs on Predestined Election for Contemplation

^{1 Commentary excerpts: Matthew Barrett, Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration, 1st ed. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2013), 33–36.; and The Westminster Confession}

^{2 Ibid}

^{3 Ibid}

^{4 Ibid}