3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Jesus “gave Himself for our sins,” not the sins of every human who ever lived. By using the pronoun our, Paul obviously included himself in the group to which he was referring, and what group is that? According to verse 2, he was writing to the churches of Galatia, not everyone who lived in Galatia and certainly not everyone who ever lived in Galatia.
Jesus gave Himself for our sins ... according to the will of our God and Father. Hmmm, makes sense to me. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God works out everything, not just some things, but EVERYTHING according to the counsel of His Will (Ephesians 1:11). Well now, if that’s true (and it is) how would it be possible that a man who God wants to save, not get saved?
If a man can say "No" to God, then God is not sovereign, and He’s not God. I know the Arminian will claim man has a free will but he will not show me Scripture that says as much. And I have shown many times where God orders our steps (not just the end result, Proverbs 16:9), where God moves hearts (Proverbs 21:1), where God works in people to make them believers (John 6:29), where God works in us to think and act according to His will (Philippians 2:13). All of these and more I have covered in Bible Truth #306.
The bottom line is that Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us according to the will of God. We become children of God by His decision, not ours. (John 1:13)
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