The man of the great God, of the fifth century, the Bishop of Hippo, St Augustine, had this to say about 'free-will', and salvation by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone "
‘It’s not up to us! We were dead in our transgressions and sins, in which we used to live when we followed the ways of the world. We were under the power of the prince of this world, the spirit who is now at work in the children of disobedience. We lived among them. We gratified the cravings of the flesh and followed its desires and thoughts. We were by nature the children of wrath, like the rest. But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. By grace we have been saved. By grace, through faith ¾ and this not from ourselves, it is the gift of God. No works. No one can boast. God Who said, “Let light shine out of darkness!” caused His light to shine in our hearts, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, shining in the face of Christ. We were foolish, obstinate, deluded, the slaves of various cravings and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another. But the kindness and love of God our Saviour dawned upon us, and He saved us, not in consequence of righteous things we did, but because of His mercy. Y es, He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. By grace we are
justified. We are new creations in Christ. The old has passed away. The new has come. All this is from God, Who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Thanks be to God!’
It stands to reason that because we bring our 'free-will' to the front where salvation is concerned, in that we ascribe the working of our 'free-will' as the ultimate decisive factor in our salvation, that this same decision of the 'free-will' must be made again and again in the process of sanctification. In that case, this thought clearly contradicts the Apostle in the third chapter of the epistle to the Galatian church that they 'began in the Spirit', echoing what the Master said Himself, 'Unless a man is born from above (born-again), he cannot see the kingdom of God'.
No wonder there is much frustration in Christendom today, and has been over the centuries since the Reformation lost steam. Believers today really do not need the LORD and His grace. They can quite simply do it all by the power of their will, and thus prove themselves adherents of Pelagius the monk, the religious man who merely followed the serpent's trail in determining to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Scripture exalts God and His will. Vast portions of the 'body of Christ' exalts their own! No wonder the church is in such a dismal state.
Salvation if of God. Salvation belongs to the LORD. It is a supernatural work done through the gospel of Christ as empowered by the Holy Spirit bringing new birth, and renewal of the will and spirit in those called of God from before the foundations of the world, time and space.
We are sinners. We can only come to God, and recognize our utter sinfulness in the light of His holiness. When we hear the gospel, we are moved by the amazing love of God in that 'He made Him who knew no sin (Christ) to be sin for us (you and I, so that we (you and I) might be found to be the righteousness of God in Him (Christ). When this awesome truth is preached again and again, the Spirit of God brings about new birth, and a new creation in Christ. We are regenerated through the washing of God's Word by His Spirit, and are given hearts of flesh, and our hearts of stone is removed.
Do you see why the good news of Christ and His work of justifying us is so absolutely GOOD!!! Jesus took everything not right and evil and horrible of us upon Himself, and gave us His everything right, and good, and wonderful! What a Savior! How can we not worship Him all the days of our lifes?
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