Understanding reprobation in one minute
God predestines some to be reprobates. He also tells us there is an unforgivable sin. Reprobates seemingly don't have to commit the unforgivable sin to be lost. They are predestined to be lost. The unforgivable sin seemingly can be committed by the elect. Which is what makes it so horrible. The unforgivable sin seems to be unbelief despite the work of the Holy Spirit within one's soul. So we don't know if a person is a hell bound reprobate due to predestination or an elect who has committed the unforgivable sin. So since we can't know we can't whine about how bad God is to create hellbound people. They could be soulless zombies from birth anyway. Or they could be scary idiots who choose hell over the new heavens and earth. Either way God's justice is magnified when he sends either to hell. Especially the unbelieving elect.
(OK, in the back of my mind there seem to be verses regarding of all that the Father will give to the Son none will be lost. Maybe that means they won't be lost because of anything Satan and the forces of darkness do... Because the unforgivable sin is a real commitable sin...)
4 Comments:
“Either way God's justice is magnified when he sends either to hell. Especially the unbelieving elect.”
John 6:39 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”
The ‘it’ here in John 6:39 refers to the elect, all of them. Also if an elect went hell that would mean God failed to get one of the elect into heaven. It would also mean that man’s will was able to circumvent God’s will for him.
I can’t see how one of God’s elect could commit such a sin, probably God wouldn’t allow it. The heart and mind of the elect has been changed to the point that no matter how far they fall, they still couldn’t bring themselves to slander the Holy Spirit. I can’t imagine how hard one’s heart would have to to be for someone to speak out against the Holy Spirit. W.
It's a conundrum. It just seems that the unforgivable sin practically speaking could only have meaning for an elect person.
It’s an interesting problem for sure. I have to reject the idea that the elect can commit the unforgivable sin however for obvious reasons. I’m tending to believe the verse refers to someone who has had the full revelation of Christ (delivered by the Holy Spirit), and then rejected it. Remember we don’t know who the elect are, so the offer is open to all who receive the word and accept Jesus as Lord and saviour. The person who rejects Christ after a full and complete revelation has committed the unforgivable sin and the door is shut for them. W.
Ps. Just like we don’t know who are the elect, we don’t know the reprobate, so it’s probably not useful to talk in those terms because we can’t know them.
Your take sounds on the mark. And it's true that issues and the reality of election and predestination and such don't have to be hammered on in evangelization type discussion, but it does have to be understood and accepted for personal faith and so on.
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