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straw said:
Does Salvation need to be experienced before it is effective, is another point to consider here. Which makes it binding, the oath that God made to himself or our acceptance of it, or is there even the chance that we can accept what we are born into not by birth, or man, but by God.
Straw,

Methinks you are confusing the "ground" of salvation and the "effectual means" of salvation. As to the first, the "ground" is the vicarious atoning work of Christ which was foreordained before the foundation of the world. But the "effectual means" of salvation is what brings a sinner into union with Christ by faith. Until a person is regenerated, convicted of sin, and brought to faith in Christ, that person remains under the wrath of God. One cannot be saved without repentance and faith, which are simply two sides of the same coin. One can similarly look at the atonement of Christ in the same manner. The sufficiency of Christ's death and resurrection in behalf of the elect doesn't save anyone in and of itself UNTIL it is applied to them. This application of the atonement is the work of the Holy Spirit in time, in which the sinner is given a new nature and made both able and willing to believe upon the Lord Christ unto justification. Unless this happens; where the sinner is united with Christ by faith and thus clothed with His righteousness; aka: imputation of Christ's righteousness, there is no salvation to be had, either conscious of unconscious.

An excellent book I would recommend to you on this subject is John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/BigThumbUp.gif" alt="" />

In His grace,

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simul iustus et peccator

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