cry out to God asking which scenario is true

Tragically, the heresy of Pelagianism has infected the vast majority of professing Christianity.

This heresy denies, among other things, the complete moral corruption of man, positing a power of the natural human will to do that which is pleasing to God, according to the good pleasure of man, despite the testimony of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and His Apostles to the contrary.

In order to plainly present the stark differences in Pelagian theology versus biblical theology, I ask the reader to consider the two scenarios below.
But first I must preface my remarks with the following truths:

The task set before Christ, the very reason the Father sent Him in the first place, can be stated as follows:

He was to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

He was to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

He was to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).

Ultimately, He was to reconcile man to God and God to man (Ephesians 2: 12-16).

Had Christ’s mission been to save, ransom, and reconcile all men ever born, He failed miserably.

Most Christians would never dare to publicly call Christ’s mission a failure.

Why? Because in their minds it was enough that Christ tried His best, doing all He could do, leaving man the arbiter of his own destiny.

I quote the words of a Bibleforums.org administrator:

All a person has to do is choose to respond to His redemptive work and He will save them. Because many don’t chose to respond does NOT mean He can’t HAVE saved them. Or that He didn’t want to save them.

This unbiblical explanation as to why some are saved and others are not is very commonly believed by many, many Christians.

So let’s put on our thinking caps.
Based upon the reader’s understanding of the God we serve, which of the two scenarios sounds more biblical…….

Scenario # 1

God the Father wanted a holy family to love and be loved.

Adam failed to provide Him one.

So God the Father and God the Son agreed the Son would humble Himself by taking on the form of a man, to do that which Adam did not – live a perfect life in obedience to God.

By so doing, He would merit eternal life for all mankind. Christ would provide God a holy family to love.

However, before the Father could freely ‘offer’ eternal life to all mankind, His justice needed to be satisfied/propitiated.

Therefore, Christ needed to be punished and die as a substitute sin offering on behalf of all mankind. In that way, the sins of mankind would be fully paid, allowing mankind to escape punishment.

But there is one rub.

Eternal life is ‘offered’ and applied on the condition of faith.

Man must obey God’s ‘offer.’

Obedience means man must repent and believe.

Those who respond obediently merit eternal life.

They receive their just reward.

Those disobedient merit eternal death.

They, too, receive their just reward.

God is fair and just toward all mankind.

It is not His fault if men do not believe.

Those who do believe did so by their own strength, making good use of their God-given freewill.

Scenario # 2

God the Father wanted a holy family to love and be loved.

Adam failed to provide Him one.

This outcome God knew before He created Adam.

But rather than destroy all mankind for their disobedience and hatred toward Him, God had determined to have a holy family that no man or Devil could undermine or sabotage.

For there were certain men who God chose to love, for reasons known only to Himself.

Now God was not ignorant of the fact that mankind cannot be trusted to make the decision to obey God rather than disobey God.

He knew the Father of Mankind would fail the test, and now all mankind will naturally follow in the footsteps of their father, Adam.

Thus, God determined to send His Son who, like Adam, would represent His people.

Only this time, His Son, the God-man Jesus Christ, would not fail.

He would live a perfect, sinless life on behalf of those chosen sinners whom the Father loved, meriting eternal life for them.

Additionally, He would die in the stead of those chosen sinners, paying their sin debt in full.

At first, Christ’s Gospel message would be confined to Israel, the rest of the inhabited world being intentionally disregarded.

After Christ’s resurrection, the Gospel would go around the world because there were men outside Israel whom God loved and chose to save.

God, in His wisdom, knew the nature of fallen man. God was not ignorant of the extreme enmity which existed.

And God, in His wisdom, knew it was not sufficient to have Christ simply ‘offered’ to men who, by nature hated Him.

They would reject Him every time.

God needed to do a miraculous work of grace in the hearts and minds of those He loved.

And Christ’s life, death and resurrection were more than sufficient to merit giving those elected ones all things necessary to attain salvation.

You see, God was so vehement in wanting those He loved to be with Him forever that He commissioned His Son to meet all the conditions demanded of those He loved.

God determined to efficaciously give those chosen sinners all the spiritual gifts Christ merited to guarantee their salvation

First, He efficaciously called them to Him. He sent preachers proclaiming God’s Good News.

Second, He effectually gave the gift of the Holy Spirit who raised them from spiritual death, creating in them a repentant, believing heart, with a will to follow Christ.

Third, He justified them by the saving faith with which He gifted them in the first place.

Fourth, He gave them good works to do in His name.

Fifth, He sanctified them.

Sixth, He will glorify them.

And if that is not enough, they will receive eternal rewards for doing that which God gifted them to do in the first place!

Let’s not forget a most important element in God’s plan:

Christ loses none:

And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day (John 6:39).

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled…..Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word (John 17:12, 20).

As for those who are not recipients of God’s unmerited grace, no injustice is done to them.

Grace is owed no man (Romans 9:15).

But what about preaching to those for whom Christ was not sent as Mediator? Is that not giving them false hope?

Answer: We humans are not omniscient. We do not have inside information as to who is elect and who is not.

Thus, we preach to all, allowing God to give the increase as He wills (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

But how are men expected to believe if they are not recipients of the gift of faith?

Answer: God is not obligated to give the grace of saving faith to any man.

Grace is owed no man.

Besides, unbelief is man’s fault, not God’s fault.

All men believe in something. They just choose not to believe in the one true God. They freely reject the truth because of their morally corrupt nature.

Furthermore, God will not lower the bar of righteous perfection He demands simply to accommodate the sinfulness of men who abhor the holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

However, on the other hand, Jesus encourages men to pray for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).

The door is always open. Unfortunately, men, by nature, prefer it shut.

CONCLUSION:

In scenario # 1, salvation is ultimately left in the hands of unregenerate, God-haters, who either accept or reject Christ.

How many or how few are saved is dependent on man’s will, not God’s will.

Those who accept Christ are then rewarded with eternal life.

This is a merit-based salvation.

God’s will is subservient to man’s will.

In scenario # 2, salvation is in the hands of God from start to finish.

This is a grace-based salvation.

God knows exactly who He wants to be part of His holy family.

His selection is not contingent on anything favorable or good in those chosen.

The plan to save His chosen is more brilliant than man could ever imagine.

Without sacrificing His holiness and justice, He is able to save innumerable sinners by grace because holy Christ propitiated divine justice.

All praise is due God the Son for this amazing grace.

And that grace is unmerited, unconditional and absolutely efficacious in bringing those chosen forgiven sinners into fellowship with Him, as a permanent part of His holy family, forever and ever.

Now which scenario do you prefer?

PS God does not desire any of His elect to be lost. And none are lost. This is to be understood when interpreting this verse (2 Peter 3:9) in its immediate context, as well as its larger biblical context.