soundoff
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(6/12/02 3:47 am)
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Does Matthew 23:27 mean we can resist Grace of God?
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Some to refute uses this verse that one can resist God's Grace so therefore God's grace is not irresistible. This would be refuting against Calvin's doctrine of Irresistible Grace.
Lets check it out and see if these things are true.
Again we must understand how the word is used and look at the context and how it is applied.
First we can see that Jesus is talking about God's prophets. When God sent his prophets to Jerusalem the people of Jerusalem killed them. Then Jesus said how often would I have gathered your children and put them under my wings. Using the hen and her chickens as a hyperbolic statement.
In this verse we have nothing about resisting Grace. Nothing is said about resisting grace but it shows that the people resisted God's messages from the prophets. Jesus was a prophet as well and he included himself to be among the prophets who were rejected. Again is this resisting Grace? Not the kind of Grace that the Holy Spirit does for salvation and being born again.
This verse has nothing to do with Eternal Salvation or the Grace that it takes to be born again and to accept the gospel.
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
We can see that in this verse it shows that Jesus was talking about scribes, Pharisees, and called them hypocrites. We realize that these people who were part of the authority went against the Word of God to be preached and proclaimed. Men who resist against other men are not resisting against the Holy Spirit of Grace.
This verse has nothing to do with unregenerate men resisting against the Spirit of Grace for salvation.
If these men would have opened up God's word to other people by allowing the OT scriptures to be taught with opened mind and allow the people to see how the Messiah would be related in the OT instead of darkening it then they would have allowed others to see the truth. This did not happen though, Jesus said they were hypocrites and prevented the people from seeing the truth. The people were told that the Messiah was not Jesus and this prevented them from being able to have the knowledge of the Messiah to come from the OT.
This kind of work is done by man and has nothing to do with Holy Spirit's work in Grace for the lost soul to be regenerated.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
I will use some authority here that will only back up my arguments to help the reader to understand I’m not out of the main stream for this school of thought.
but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: sin has abounded in human nature, in all the individuals of it; and grace has superabounded in the same nature, being assumed by the Son of God, and united to him, who has appeared in it "full of grace and truth", Joh_1:14, sin has abounded in all the powers and faculties of the soul, in the understanding, will, and affections, of an unregenerate man; but in regeneration, the grace of God much more abounds in the same powers and faculties, enlightening the understanding, subduing the will, and influencing the affections with love to divine things: sin abounded in the Gentile world, before the preaching of the Gospel in it; but afterwards grace did superabound in the conversion of multitudes in it from idols, to serve the living God; and where sin has abounded in particular persons to a very great height, grace has exceeded it, as in Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, Saul, and others.
-- John Gill
My conclusion is that this particular verse from Matthew 23:37 does not prove that God's grace can be resisted by the Holy Spirit's Grace.
This document does not say that Irrisistible Grace can be proven from this verse. This document is not is not making a claim for the doctrine of Irresistible Grace.
This document only points out that those who do go against Irresistible Grace are in error by using this verse.
JaRay
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