He holds that God has provided saving grace towards all sinners, so all can freely decide to accept/reject Jesus, but my understanding is that only those who are His sheep, His elect, shall hear and respond to Him for salvation.What's wrong with that?
What Did Paul mean in Romans 1:16?
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timfost
Puritan Board Senior
I see what you mean. Some understand "Reformed" doctrine to mean that God prevents man from coming to Him since He reprobates some. In a real sense, all are free to accept Jesus because He restrains no man from coming to Him and will always receive the penitent sinner. Because of man's moral standing after the Fall, man freely rejects what God offers in the gospel.
The "bondage" in "bondage of the will" is brought in through sin--sin through man by the instigation of the devil. God's hands are free from any taint.
In your statement above, it is accurate to say "can freely decide" in regards to the freedom of the will. It is inaccurate if "can" refers to an ability in fallen man.
It may seem nit-picky, but I'm not sure if we can be too careful in these kinds of conversations.
The big difference would be that you and I would see fallen sinners still exercise "free will" in the decision for Jesus, its just that the sin nature would always left to itself deny Jesus. The pastor's view would be that God has enabled all sinners to have real free will again, so can and will choose Jesus, but he can not define why some would and some won't.
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