The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Questions concerning salvation

Let's take your several statements as they appear in your reply:

1) Can you show from Scripture where it is clearly stated that everyone, i.e., without exception, beginning with Adam to the last man on earth, will get the opportunity to hear the Gospel? What I do read however, is that the ordained means by which the Holy Spirit works in the elect to bring them to Christ is through the preaching/reading of the Word of God; i.e., the Gospel found only in the written, inspired, infallible Scriptures.

John 20:30-31 (ASV) "Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name."

Romans 1:16-17 (ASV) "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.

Romans 10:14-15, 17 (ASV) "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! . . . So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."

1 Corinthians 1:21 (ASV) "For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe."

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (ASV) "Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain."

Titus 1:3 (ASV) "but in his own seasons manifested his word in the message, wherewith I was intrusted according to the commandment of God our Saviour;"

The problems here are at least two-fold: 1) No one by nature will nor can yield to God, unless they have first been given a new nature. Due to the effects of the Fall (aka: Original Sin), all men are born with a corrupt nature which is at enmity with God, i.e., they hate God and all that is good. (cf. Gen 6:5; 8:21; Job 15:14-16; Psa 51:5; 58:3; Eccl 7:20; 9:3; Jer 17:9; Jh 3:3, 5; Rom 3:10-18; 8:7, 8; 1Cor 2:14; Eph 4:17-19; et al.)

John 6:44, 65 (ASV) "No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. . . . And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father."

Matthew 11:25-26 (ASV) "At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight."

2) The manner which the Holy Spirit moved upon the Apostles, disciples and Paul was no different than He how He worked from the beginning; i.e., through the preaching of the Prophets of old who declared the works of God and the necessity for men to repent and be reconciled to God. And this final word, the culmination which came with the incarnation of the living WORD Who then entrusted the complete message to them was also written down and preached.

Hebrews 1:1-2 (ASV) "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in [his] Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds;"

2 Corinthians 5:20 (ASV) "We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech [you] on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God."

You may choose to ignore the seriousness of the doctrine you now embrace but that isn't going to make it any less fallacious. Either one believes that the Bible is THE sole and finally authority in all matters of faith and practice, or one believes that the Bible is A source of authority in addition to: direct revelation from God, a human source, e.g., the pope, Joseph Smith, The Watchtower, Buddha, et al. I would encourage you to read the following article at your earliest convenience: Does God Speak Today Apart From the Bible?, by Dr. R. Fowler White.

In His Grace,