10 The disciples said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.”
11 But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given.
12 “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”
In verse 11 Jesus said not all men can accept this statement. In the context of the disciples comment, Jesus’ answer can better be understood to mean that not all men can actually do what they (the disciples) stated - not marry. Only those to whom it has been given can refrain from having a normal reproductive life.
Some are born emasculated, and some kings would castrate men who were responsible for the king’s harem. But other men God has given the ability to remain celibate in order to give themselves to the cause of Christ without distractions. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:32:
But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
Their celibacy is not because of physical impairment, but a matter of voluntary abstinence. And only those men to whom it has been given are able to live a life of celibacy. It is a God-given ability and against the “nature” of a man.
It is no different with faith, belief and repentance! Only those to whom God has given these gifts will be saved, and saved they WILL BE. The Bible states as much in Ephesians 2:8. Faith is a gift that God gives to His Elect whom He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and God uses that faith to save a man. Again! It is not a lost man who uses faith to save himself, it is God who uses faith, the faith He gave him, to save him.
Belief is also given (Philippians 1:29) when God works in a man and makes him a believer (John 6:29). God doesn’t give the ability to believe and man then has a choice, God gives a man belief and as a result that man believes. The same with repentance. No man can repent unless God grants it to him (2 Timothy 2:25) and if God grants it, that man WILL come to a knowledge of the truth and repent.
Without God granting these gifts to His Elect and quickening their dead spirits (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13) no man would be saved because a lost man is Totally Depraved. EVERY imagination of his heart is only evil, continuously (Genesis 6:5). He is accustomed to doing evil and cannot do good (Jeremiah 13:23). He hates Jesus and will not come to Him (John 3:20). He is hostile toward God and can not please Him (Romans 8:7-8). He accepts nothing from the Holy Spirit, thinks it is all foolishness and can NOT understand it (1 Corinthians 2:14). There are many other passages in both the Old and New Testament that tell us the inability of a lost man to come to Christ. A lost man is DEAD, he is not mortally wounded that he can call out for help. He is not drowning that he can reach for a life preserver if one is thrown to him. He is not bleeding to death that he can put a tourniquet on his leg to stop the flow - he is DEAD.
As Jesus said in John 6:65, a man must be enabled before he can do anything else and it is clear throughout the Scriptures that God enables some and doesn’t enable most.
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