A Treatise on Grace by Jonathan Edwards.
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This wouldn’t fall in the light reading category. 🙂
SUCH phrases as common grace, and special or saving grace, may be understood as signifying either diverse kinds of influence of God’s Spirit on the hearts of men, or diverse fruits and effects of that influence. …
HT: Nathan Bingham
As Quoted by A.W. Pink in The Attributes of God:
Whether God has decreed all things that ever come to pass or not, all that own the being of a God, own that He knows all things beforehand. Now, it is self-evident that if He knows all things beforehand, He either doth approve of them or doth not approve of them; that is, He either is willing they should be, or He is not willing they should be. But to will that they should be is to decree them. (Jonathan Edwards).
If you know anything about Jonathan Edwards history you would realize that for him to say we must love the church is quite notable. He was removed from the pastorate of his church, yet for years afterward still preached due to their not having a preacher.
“A common argument of many nominal Christians is that they love Jesus but don’t care for the church. The teaching of 1 John exposes the flaws of this argument, revealing it to be an unbiblical dichotomy. All who are saved by God possess the Spirit, which links them to all other people who possess the Spirit. The local church, of course, is not perfect, and some have had difficult experiences with churches they have attended. But when God saves a person, He gives them a love for His people. His people are the church.”
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Jonathan Edwards
