Bible Truth #112 - Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine... Exactly what is the apostles’ doctrine? It is exactly what I’ve been sending these many days. It is nearly all of my Bible Truths. I say nearly because some of what I’ve sent is not the apostle’s doctrine but the direct teaching of Jesus. There is no place in the Bible that says a lost man has the ability to believe, NO PLACE. That is NOT the apostles’ doctrine.

A lost man has to be changed (saved) FIRST, as in the case of Lydia. A lost woman and a worshipper of God, yes; a recipient of salvation and a believer of Christ, no. But God opened her heart so she could respond to Paul’s message (Acts 16:14). What is clear is without God FIRST opening her heart to respond, even though she was a God worshipper, she was unable to believe Paul’s message.

If it is as Arminians believe then there has to be someplace in the Bible where the apostles taught that a man who is steeped in sin, a man who has a dead spirit, a man who can do ONLY evil continually, a man who has the sinful nature, in other words a lost man; there has to be someplace in the Bible where the apostles taught that a lost man can do good, or please God, or repent... somewhere, someplace. Please show me.

Oh, there are plenty of places where the apostles have told people they must repent but nowhere in Scripture is it taught that anyone is ABLE to repent without God granting it to them first. The Arminian will claim, “Why would God tell someone to do something that they are unable to do?” That is something that you’ll have to ask God, if you dare, but in the meantime I will point to 2 Timothy 2:25 to prove a man can’t repent without God granting it to him. “See, all a man has to do is ask and God will grant it to him.” Sorry - now we get back to what a lost man is unable to do. A lost man is unable to please God (Romans 8:8) and repenting or even asking for the ability to repent would please God, would it not? A lost man can’t please God.

I agree that all men are commanded to repent (Acts 17:30) but that is not the “call” to salvation. I’m sure you would find it interesting if the Holy Spirit led you to do a word study on those two words - the command to all men to repent, and the call God uses for His Elect to salvation. I’ll help get you started... the English translates the Greek kletos as “called” and it has a completely different meaning from the Greek word paraggello that is translated as a form of “commands.”

I’ll remind you of two instances that tell us how the call to salvation is limited by God:

- Romans 8:29-30 where Paul tells us ALL those God calls, He glorifies. That alone should tell you He does not call everyone, unless you believe all are going to Heaven.

- 1 Corinthians 1:26, not many are called to salvation.

The apostles’ doctrine INCLUDES the doctrine of Election about which Paul wrote (Romans 9:11, 11:28), and Peter wrote (2 Peter 1:1-11) - and they taught it because Jesus taught it in John 6 and He spoke of His Elect in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 18.

The apostles’ doctrine is NOT “man has free will” to choose his own destiny, but that God HAS chosen and He did it before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4). HALLELUJAH!