Question: Dave, [you don't] understand Romans 4:16, It is by faith that it might be by grace.” My ...

Question: In your Q&A of Dec. 2003 (re: Phil Johnson/John MacArthur) you wrote, “Refute my reasoning if you can, but don’t call me a liar.” As an avid reader of about everything you write (except What Love Is This?— I’m a Calvinist), I made marginal notes. One reads, “Dave’s right, MacArthur’s Calvinism is not consistent.” But later, I also wrote, “Dave doesn’t understand Romans:4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
See All..., It is by faith that it might be by grace.” My friend and mentor, Dave, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you and your work...but you are mistaken about Calvinism. Please allow me to help you a bit: 1) Man is as spiritually dead as a dog is physically and cannot respond to any kind of stimuli. Man is totally depraved. 2) But God loved and chose some whom He would save. 3) Those whom He loved, He would grant to be born again. Faith and repentance are inseparable graces granted simultaneously with the new birth. There you have it. I have tried to refute your reasoning. P.S. You are right to challenge these pseudo-Calvinists concerning their claims that God loves everyone, even if He doesn’t choose [to save] everyone.

Answer: I don’t understand Romans:4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
See All...? No, I understand it well. Paul points out that Abraham was justified without works before the law as proof that salvation is not by works but by God’s grace. That “it is of faith, that it might be by grace,”simply reflects the fact that grace and works are mutually exclusive (Rom:11:6And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
See All...)as are faith and works (4:5).

Instead of what Paul clearly says, amazingly in 4:16 you claim to find Calvinism’s peculiar definition of total depravity, its idea that God doesn’t love all, and its teaching that God must sovereignly regenerate the spiritually dead so that He can then give them faith to believe. There is nothing even remotely related to such doctrines in Romans:4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
See All... or anywhere else in Scripture.

You declare that “faith and repentance are inseparable graces granted simultaneously with the new birth.” How do you find that in Romans:4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
See All...? It is neither there nor anywhere else in the Bible—nor in Calvinism! Granted simultaneously? On the contrary, Calvinism claims God must first regenerate the spiritually dead, and only then can He give them faith to believe the gospel: “Therefore all men...without the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit...are neither able nor willing to return to God...”[Synod of Dort]; “The Reformed view of predestination teaches that before a person can choose Christ...he must be born again...one does not first believe, then become reborn...” [R.C. Sproul, Chosen by God, p. 10]; “A cardinal point of Reformed theology is the maxim, ‘Regeneration precedes faith’ [Sproul, Chosen, p. 72].” A.W. Pink insists, “A man is not regenerated because he has first believed in Christ, but he believes in Christ because he has been regenerated.” I could quote many others declaring the same. Do you have another Calvinism?

Contrary to Calvinism, the Bible repeatedly puts faith first: “...that believing ye might have life” (Jn:20:31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
See All...); the Galatians had become “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal:3:26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
See All...); “Being born again...by the word of God...which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pt 1:23-25), “them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb:10:39But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
See All...), etc., etc.

Of course, the new birth is “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”—but it is to those who “received him...believe[d] on his name” (Jn:1:11-13 [11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not. [12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: [13] Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
See All...).

You say, “God loved [some] and chose some whom He would save.” You deny that God loves all, that He would have all men to be saved, and that He offers salvation to all by grace through faith. You misrepresent and malign the God of the Bible and make Him less loving than we must be!

You err in equating spiritual death with physical death. The physically dead can’t believe, but they can’t sin either. The spiritually dead can sin and also can hear and believe: “The hour...now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (Jn:5:25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
See All...); “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live...” (Jn:11:25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
See All...), etc.