Bible Truth #226 - Ephesians 2:11-13

Ephesians 2:11-13

11  Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)-

12  remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

I wrote about verses 11 and 12 in Bible Truth #185 so I won’t discuss that now. I want to bring your attention to verse 13.

We were once far away, but now in Christ Jesus we have been brought near. HOW were we brought near? We were brought near through the Blood of Christ, and the Blood of Christ alone! It is not even hinted in the verse or anywhere else that were were brought near through the Blood of Christ AND our acceptance of It, or through the Blood of Christ AND our belief in It, or through the Blood of Christ BECAUSE we accepted It. Our acceptance and belief is the result of God quickening our dead spirit, not the cause of it. While we were dead, God quickened our spirit giving us the ability to respond to the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:14).

The Arminian may say, “That’s right, God gave us the ability to respond but the choice on whether to accept or not is still ours.” Hmmmm, so God gave us the ability to respond by quickening our dead spirit but then kills our spirit if we refuse to believe? So I guess it is in Scripture someplace that there is evidence of someone being quickened and then spiritually dying after they refuse to respond to the Gospel and accept Christ? I’m not from Missouri but I was born & raised close enough (3 miles) - SHOW ME! There is only one person in the Bible who was created spiritually alive and then died spiritually - Adam (Genesis 2:17). Since Adam, everyone born of man is born DEAD in his sins (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13).

Bottom line: There is no Scripture to indicate a man’s spirit is quickened (born-again) and then killed if he refuses to believe and accept Jesus. Once God quickens the spirit in a lost man he is born-again, the man is no longer lost, he is saved. And according to John 6:37, he WILL come to Christ, and Christ WILL raise him up (John 6:44).