The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Election & the Love of God

You can not disabuse me of believing what Scripture clearly teaches. Why won't you submit to God's inspired infallible Word?

Psalms 5:5-6 (ASV) "The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies: Jehovah abhorreth the blood-thirsty and deceitful man.

Please tell me how "workers" and "man" equates to actions done by someone and not what it plainly says. God hates workers and abhors blood-thirsty and deceitful man. (notice not "men")

Psalms 11:5-6 (ASV) "Jehovah trieth the righteous; But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup."

Again, individuals are specifically mentioned as being hated by God. And, their end has been set; damnation.

Romans 9:11,13 (ASV) "for [the children] being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Paul makes specific mention of two individuals; identical twins. One is loved of God, the other hated of God. And, fyi the Greek word translated "hate" is emisnsa (misew). There is no other meaning of misew other than hate.

Matthew 7:21-23 (ASV) "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

This phrase, which Christ issues against those who "work iniquity", is equivalent to, "I never loved you", i.e., I hated you. Does this sound far-fetched? It shouldn't because the Bible uses the word "know" in this way in many places, e.g., cf. Gen 4:1 (Adam 'knew' Eve and consequently she gave birth to a child. It can hardly be suggested that because knew things about her that she became pregnant); Ps 1:6 (God knows [loves] the way of the righteous but [hates] the wicked who shall perish. This is a Hebraism where the phrase can be rightly reversed.) cf. Ps 37:18-24; Job 23:10; Nah 1:7; Jh 10:14; 2Tim 2:19 and Rom 8:29 where "foreknew" is rightly understood to mean, "fore-loved".

This is one of the favorite attempts of semi-Pelagians to rebut the doctrine of sovereign free unconditional election. But even a cursory reading of this passage IN CONTEXT immediately shows this argument to be nothing less than hermeneutical and grammatical gymnastics. Everywhere Paul uses specific names and personal pronouns to indicate individuals and not nations. Secondly, Paul is laboring to show that salvation is of God's sovereign choice, for He shows mercy to WHOM He wills to show mercy, and conversely, He hardens those WHOM He wills to harden. He then brings in the matter of the creation of individuals and how He, the sovereign God purposes their existence for His glory. Some are created to honor (salvation) and the rest are created to dishonor (damnation). Lastly, he shows that individual Gentiles are also part of God's electing grace along with certain individuals of the Jews, aka: a remnant.