(Romans 8:16)
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit (πνεύματι) that we are the children of God.
Notice the phrase "our spirit" in Romans 8:16. Therefore, I have the following questions for Calvinists:
- When do we acquire "our spirit" if we are totally depraved before Regeneration, as Calvinists claim?
- Can Calvinists know that they are of the Elect based on Rom 8:16?
- Generally speaking, how does Calvinism account for "our spirit"?
- Please forward supporting Bible verses. Thanking you in advance.
1. How can we have a dead spirit, as one finds in Genesis, if we don't have a spirit? There is a reason why the word for spirit is also the word for air. God breathed life into Adam, and that was spirit. When the spirit is said to be dead, that is separation from life, and that life is God. We are separated from God by sin.
2. You do understand that the only way to know if ANYONE is elect is that they are standing before God and their name is read in the book of life. We are not God. The elect is His choice. He gave Elijah some tips on finding out who the elect in Israel were. (They have not bowed the knee to Baal for instance.) Salvation is obviously a hallmark of the elect, given the definition of elect in calvinism.
3. Our life. Our consciousness. The verse is saying that God's spirit bears witness with our (no longer separated from God...the Holy Spirit is God so if it is in contact with our spirit, it is obviously no longer separated from God) spirit that we are the elect. (Going back to Ephesians 1:3-5 and more for full context of what it all means.)
4. I kept it simple. If you don't know these passages (well, perhaps not Ephesians 1), but if you don't know the passages I used... you are very far behind in your studies. I'm not in last place any longer. Yay! I didn't say you agree, but that you know them.
