Ephesians 2:12
Ephesians 2:12-13 (see also Romans 5:10)
Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the common-wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
The is what Paul meant by spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1), which is separation and condemnation.
John Hagee: “Jesus called a Gentile woman, a dog. He never called the Gentiles His brethren. Let me remind you of something. We did not get plugged in until the cross. We had no basis of standing with God until the cross. There’s where we were in Galatians 3 when Paul said you were outside the covenance of Israel, without hope and without God. That’s very important. Then at the cross, we were plugged in, and we received the riches of Abraham, and we received healing, and we received adoption, and we received all the cornucopia of the blessings of God. But before the cross, we were castoffs. You need to understand that.” (emphasis mine)
This is correct, but Calvinists claims that they were secretly elect with the Father, all the while, and never on the road to destruction, and never at any time, in danger of Hell.
John Calvin: “But for him who has not Christ, nothing remains but destruction.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.148, emphasis mine)
Agreed, but keep reading:
John Calvin: “First he points out the eternity of election, and then how we should think of it. Christ says that the elect always belonged to God. God therefore distinguishes them from the reprobate, not by faith, nor by any merit, but by pure grace; for while they are far away from him, he regards them in secret as his own.” (John: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.393, emphasis mine)
Question: How could you, in any meaningful sense, be lost if you eternally, secretly belonged to God? How could the Calvinisticly elect ever have been truly lost, far off, enemies of God, having no hope and without God in the world?
Answer: The only way for a Calvinist to explain it is with Double Talk.
Apart from being “in Christ Jesus,” we remain “already judged” (John 3:18), being “lost” (Luke 19:10), “enemies” of God (Romans 5:10), “far off” and “having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12)
One Calvinist responds: “Do Calvinists secretly believe that God chose them for some reason other than their need for salvation? Would I, as a Christian, believe that God chose me for some other reason than my need for salvation? Yes, I do. God chose me for His glory, for His pleasure, for His purposes. Sure I had a need for salvation. But that is not why He saved me primarily.”
The Calvinist answers: “In the Bible, God does not say He chose us because of our desperate need. He chose us before our need ever arose.”
Wouldn’t this mean that the Calvinistically elect are only figuratively lost?
