Christ is God in Scripture

Our detractor states: "Jesus never claimed to be God-He never actually said "I am God".

On the contrary. Jesus is co-equal with God. This is the consistent teaching of the whole bible, especially the New Testament. Though not every statement is expressed with equal explicitness, every statement bearing on the nature of Christ proves He is full Deity & humanity in one person, without contradiction. The various names and titles of Jesus are unequivocal of his full Deity.

Just a few verses will bear this out:

Micah 5:2, King James Version But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting

Vs. 2b, New American Standard Bible His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.


Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another...

Isaiah 48:11c I will not yield my glory to another.

John 17:5 [Jesus prayed] And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Psalms 45:6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

Hebrews 1:8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom

John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... [14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 5:22-23 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Ezekiel 34:31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.

John 10:14 I [Jesus] am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

Hebrews 13:20 ...our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep...

Romans 9:5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Now that you know Jesus is clearly called God in many ways throughout Scripture...what will you do with that knowledge?

Series on Genesis At Pyromaniacs

Because it's such an excellent series, I need to link to John MacArthur's & Phil Johnson's stuff at Pyromaniacs. In essense, Genesis One is truth. It shows God's existence, & his Creation of the universe as supernatural acts, and Christians who compromise on the literal meaning of Genesis as a historical narrative are undermining the text as well as Christian orthodoxy on original sin and soteriology.


http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2010/06/humanistic-religion-and-origin-of-life.html It begins here, with follow ups at Phil's blog. READ IT!

The New Covenant & Israel

The New Covenant


31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”


Jeremiah 31:31-34
 
Here is stated God's promise to form a new covenant with Israel. The Church is not in view here. We would no more say that God made the new covenant with the church in this passage than we would say that God gave the LAW of Moses to the Church at Mount Sinai. Clearly the Lord is addressing the people who have violated the Law and are in danger of coming judgment. I want to exegete the features of this covenant to see what God has promised the nation, and what is involved in the new covenant.
 
First, it is a Jewish covenant. As stated above, Gentiles are not here spoken of. The object of the covenant is the "house of Israel and the house of Judah". The kingdom was still divided. This cannot be the church. It cannot be Gentile. Sounds Jewish to me.

2. The covenant was still future. God did not institute it at the time it was spoken, but only spoke of it's impending replacement of the old covenant.

3. That brings me to the next point. The new covenant will be new in that it will not be like the Sinai Covenant. Israel broke that covenant. The blessings of it are conditioned on the obedience of the people, and it's clear they had violated from the start. The new covenant will be characterized by dissimilarity and discontinuity with the old covenant. Like a wayward wife, Israel was unfaithful to God, characterized by spiritual idolatry of the pagans around her and the breaking of her Sabbaths.

4. The New Covenant will bring the law into their hearts. This is in contrast to the old covenant written by the finger of God on stone tablets.(Exodus 24:12;  Deuteronomy 4:13)

5. Israel will be God's people. They will all know the Lord. There won't be any ignorance of God or spiritual separation. Israel will fulfill her true role as the elect nation, because of the spiritual work of God in their hearts.

6. The covenant is unilateral. God alone will fulfill the terms of the Covenant. There is no mention of any duty on the part of the people to fulfill the terms.

7. Similar to #6, the New Covenant is unconditional. Since God alone will act to perform the terms of the covenant, it's blessings come on the basis of His promises, it doesn't depend on Israel's obedience.

8. The law will be fulfilled by God putting it into people's heart. This will be based on the forgiveness of their sins, never again to be counted against them. Already we see the aspects of justification and regeneration promised in this covenant.

9. The promises of the new Covenant are comprehensive. They are all-encompassing to the people of Israel. Words like "no longer", "all" and "no more" are applied to the nation collectively. This speaks to the total blessing of all of God's remnant people.

From the least to the greatest, Israel will finally walk with God. All shall know him. This hasn't happened yet. There is still a future fulfillment of these things. Though it has begun already. And that will be for a another post.

Two New Covenants? Dispensational Distortion

Dispensationalism is known for it's Israel/Chruch dichotomy. Israel and the Church are distinct entities, and never the twain shall meet. While one enjoys an earthly destiny, and the other a heavenly one, such extreme compartmentalization has been modified a little in the '50s and onward among Dispensational adherents.

However, Jeremiah's New Covenant promise has come to be applied to Israel exclusively, so that what the Church now enjoys is not that New covenant but "a" new covenant based on different promises to the Body of Christ alone. While more modern Dispensationalists eschewed the old hyper divisions between Israel and the church, this two covenant theory is basically consistent hyper dispensationalism.

The proper view is that Jesus did introduce and activate Jeremiah's New Covenant with Israel in inaugural form. The first people to enjoy this Covenant's blessings were entirely Jewish people. Christ, the Testator of the New Covenant, by his death, inaugurated a change in the priesthood, rendered the Old Covenant economy obsolete, and began a new dispensation in the outworking of God's plan of redemption. Hebrews 8:13 " In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete". This is after quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34.

This New Covenant is presently being mediated by Christ to both Jewish and Gentile believers in the Church. It will come to fullness in the Millenium when all Israel knows the LORD, and is regenerated with the law internalized by grace.

God Exists: A Biblical Truth

God exists. The atheist who denies this is foolish because he denies what is self-evident through the means of creation, and conscience, and ultimately through the Word of God and The Son of God, Jesus. Acts 17:22-32; Romans 1:18-32; Psalm 14:1
God exists ,therefore, nature, which has a beginning, was created by God’s Word, and is sustained by His sovereign power. God’s purposefulness and wisdom, eternal power and other attributes are clearly evident in the created order of the universe. Just as every building has a builder, therefore the building shows it’s designer’s planned detail, and it’s construction workers’ effort and work in all of it’s structure. It’s obvious that the building is not there by random, blind “chance,” and that the materials of it did not assemble themselves so intricately . Genesis 1:1-2:24

God causes the heavenly bodies to orbit along precise paths in space, to turn on their axes, and to be placed just precisely so that Earth experiences Sun and moon phases at precise times. His wisdom made mankind male and female and endowed us with superbly complex bodies that do wonderful things. Our genetic information is held in intricate chemical information systems called DNA. Our cells contain components that are literally engineered systems that work as biological machines with great precision and staggering complexity. Only God knows how to create this marvel of nature! His handiwork is displayed in the billions of stars that move in space, whose light our biological super-computer like eyes and brains detect from millions of light years away, and our God given tongues give praise to and awe in the Creator, who our inner soul just knows , made it all by his power, and for his Glory. God exists.

God’s law is evident to all people. God made mankind with the knowledge of right and wrong. Only God is perfect, and his nature is righteous and pure. He determines what is right, because He is righteous. We all have fallen short of the law of God. And because God is good, He will judge all people on day. Apart from God, there would be no moral law. While many people deny God, they do so by rejecting the plain truth that there is a God, and the conscience accuses them, which they suppress. Since the law of God has been broken by all, all are condemned by God, for how else can evil be judged, and eternal justice be meted out perfectly? Only the one, true Holy God and Judge of all can judge perfectly. So a changing of the heart is needed to see the God who judges all hearts as wicked.
Finally, but most importantly…God has spoken by specially chosen individuals called prophets, and apostles. These men were chosen to hear the Voice of the Creator, and to reveal His specific revelation of his Being, and His works. Their writings, which are God-breathed or inspired divinely, are in the Scriptures. These Scriptures promise salvation from sin and death, through the Mediatorship of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the revealer of God. Jesus Himself revealed his heavenly Father, and spoke from His Father what the truth is. God sent His Son to be the Saviour of those who believe in God. Jesus fulfilled the prophetic words of the Scriptures in his birth, life, death for sins, and glorious resurrection. His rising up from the dead, in his tomb is greatest sign that He is the Son of God, and the true Lord who saves people from their sins, and from death,and the coming Judgment, and to be reconciled to the God who is. John 3:16-20;Hebrews 1:1-13

Amen

Jesus Didn't Say "I am God"-Revised

Our detractor states: "Jesus never claimed to be God-He never actually said "I am God".

On the contrary. Jesus is co-equal with God. This is the consistent teaching of the whole bible, especially the New Testament. Though not every statement is expressed with equal explicitness, every statement bearing on the nature of Christ proves He is full Deity & humanity in one person, without contradiction. The various names and titles of Jesus are unequivocal of his full Deity.

Just a few verses will bear this out.

Micah 5:2, King James Version But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting

Vs. 2b, New American Standard Bible His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity

Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another...


Isaiah 48:11c I will not yield my glory to another.

John 17:5 [Jesus prayed] And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Psalms 45:6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.


Hebrews 1:8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom

John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... [14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.


John 5:22-23 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.


Ezekiel 34:31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.

John 10:14 I [Jesus] am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

Hebrews 13:20 ...our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep...

Romans 9:5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.


Now that you know Jesus is clearly called God throughout Scripture...what will you do with that knowledge?

A False Interpretation of Matthew 23:37

(v.37) Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Matthew 23:37

Many Arminiansitic interpreters have sought to refute God's unconditional election and sovereign irresistible grace upon his elect, by citing this passage of Scripture. The undemonstrated assumption is that the Jesus is saying that "Jerusalem" resisted his will to come to salvation, even though God wanted this to come to pass. Jesus tried to gather the Jews to himself that he wanted to save, but they "would not". Thus it is supposed to prove that God's will can be resisted by the independent free volition of sinners.

What is often assumed, but often missed is that the words of the text, when allowed to speak for themselves, in no way support this Arminian/synergystic view of God's grace. Look carefully at who Jesus says he wanted to gather. It is "THY CHILDREN" who are the objects of Jesus' gathering effort. Most people read the verse with their own ideas imposed on the text, so they think it means that Jesus wished to gather those he calls Jerusalem, but he does not say that.

The context of Matthew 23 is the judgment of the Jewish leaders who so often opposed Jesus during his ministry. Jesus came to save his people from their sins. He came to gather all that the Father had given him. There is no way that Jesus would or could fail in this effort. After noting the distinction between "Jerusalem" i.e. the Jewish leaders, and "thy children" i.e. the people whom they were to lead, we can see that Jesus was simply rehearsing the wicked leaders' legacy of apostasy and persecution of God's prophets to the nation of Israel.
Earlier in his denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees, he says :v. 31"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets".

So Jesus was condemning the leaders, and stating that they resisted him when he would have gathered his people.

There is a further idea that has to be seen for what it is here. Lawrence Vance, in his anti-Calvinist book The Other Side of Calvinism, on p. 483 says of this verse "And though he(John Gill) correctly points out that the ones that Christ would have gathered are not the ones who resisted as it is sometimes interpreted by non-Calvinists, the fact remains that someone was able to thwart what Christ desired to accomplish. thus it is evident that men can and do resist the grace of God in various ways." (emphasis mine).

Nobody denies that sinful people are enemies of God, and do not seek God. But this is what Calvinists already believe because of total depravity. Calvinists do not deny that sinners can and do resist God. In fact, that is what we emphatically believe that sinners are expected to do until God regenerates them. But further to this verse, the scribes and Pharisees did resist God as Jesus gathered his elect. Their resistance did not prevent Jesus from saving anyone. All the verse says is that "ye would not". It does not say that Jesus was frustrated in his ministry, that he failed to gather his elect because of his enemies.

What the verse means is that as Jesus wanted to gather his people to Himself, the leaders of the nation opposed him, and thus merited the coming judgment of God on themselves.

As Jesus said in John 6 :37 "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

39And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day".

Thank God that our salvation is so sure and secure in God's decree that no man can thwart the gathering of ALL of God's people to Christ.

Amen

Dual Authorship & The Nature of Jesus Christ

Dual Authorship refers to the fact that the divinely given Scriptures are a product of both God & men. God's Word is both eternal & temporal. That is God spoke in the ultimate and final sense through secondary means of prophets & apostles. So, for example, in Matthew 1:22 : "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet..." Also, when Jesus denounced the Pharisees about their traditions, He said:"Full well, ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother....making the word of God of none effect through your tradition". (Matthew 7:9-13). In both places, the Word of God is said to be what a human author spoke or wrote.

Of course, there is a mystery in just how men could write Scripture, and yet it is the God breathed words of the Lord. In 2 Peter 1:21"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." And when speaking of the prophets who foretold the Gospel, Peter wrote:"...the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that should follow." (1 Peter 1:11-12) Both verses describe that it was a dual authorship that came as the Word of God.

I have been wondering whether we can look to the nature of Christ Himself & His "hypostatic union" to give us a parallel to help us understand dual authorship. Christ is the Word of God who became flesh. He has both the divine nature as the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who took upon himself human nature, and a body. He became human with no loss of his eternal essence. In fact, Christ had to limit or set aside his "divine prerogatives" and take the form of a servant and human with all human limitations. Yet Christ is the Revealer of the Father, and sinless Son of God.( See Philippians 2:5-11)

Since there is both a divine and human element in the Person of Jesus, and there are both divine and human elements in Scripture, we should not be surprised to see parallels, and perhaps get insight into the inspiration of Scripture. Then again, there are limits here.

For one thing, the "Hypostatic Union", a concept which explains the dual nature/one person of Christ is itself a truth which we apprehend, but do not fully comprehend. It is paradoxical to speak of the two natures being one Person, without confusion of each entity. Just as the threes of the Persons in the Trinity are paradoxical, yet true.

In Dual Authorship, we are trying to understand a process. Whereas in the hypostatic union, we have to deal with essence. We know the Scriptures are divine, but how did they get that way given the human involvement?

Matt Weymeyer gives an exegetical understanding of the problem. This is not exhaustive, but it gives us a good idea of what the words of Scripture mean when speaking of the God/man process of authorship.

"In Matthew 1:22 and 2:15, the preposition hupo is used to express ultimate (or primary) agency, whereas the preposition dia is used to express intermediate (or secondary) agency. The distinction is this: the ultimate agent is the person who is ultimately responsible for the action of the verb, and the intermediate agent is the person who is used by the ultimate agent to carry out that action. In simpler terms, if A is the ultimate agent, B is the intermediate agent, and C is the action of the verb, the idea is that A uses B to perform C.

The implications of this are profound. According to Matthew 1:22 and 2:15, the person who is ultimately responsible for the action of speaking forth the Old Testament prophecies is the Lord Himself, for Matthew refers to the words of prophecy as “what was spoken by [hupo—ultimate agency] the Lord.” In addition, however, these verses also indicate that the Lord used intermediate agents to speak forth these words of prophecy, for Matthew refers to “what was spoken…through [dia—intermediate agency] the prophet.” Put very simply, A (God) used B (the prophets) to perform C (write Scripture)." Matt Weymeyer

http://expositorythoughts.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/dual-authorship-in-matthew-122-and-215/

I would be very much interested in reader comments and input to these ideas. Let me know what you think!

How Did God Work Around Paul's "Free-Will"?

It occurred to me,as I have been reading the Letter of Paul to the Galatians, that God would indeed be doing some interesting things if He had to juggle his sovereign plans with the sovereign will of the Apostle Paul.

Galatians 1:11-17 11For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

So God set apart, or consecrated Paul even before he was born. Paul had a divine mission to preach the Gospel even before his DNA existed! His life had already been mapped out. Look at the personal history of the apostle: he had a glowing career in Judaism, as a Pharisee's Pharisee. Yet even while he was studying Rabbinic theology, God planned to make him a gospel witness.

So, did Paul have a choice here? Is that really fair of God anyway? Can God just take people and predetermine their lives like that? What if Paul had tried to excercise his "free-will" in this matter?

Either God waited to see what Paul would do, then determine to make him an apostle.The problem is, the text says that it was IN ORDER that Paul might preach the Gospel to the Gentiles that God set him apart from before his birth. It doesn't suggest that God had this plan before he was born,and hoped that Paul might respond and be what God wanted him to be.

Paul was already appointed to the task. God revealed Christ to him. It was a supernatural revelation. Apart from that intervention on the Damascus Road in Acts 9, he would have continued to persecute the Church. Of course, Saul's conversion is anything but an invitation by decision evangelistic effort! Christ appeared in blazing, holy light and blinded Saul, and immediately Saul called him LORD. From there on we read that the Lord gave him instructions to do what was already planned.

Nothing in all this about a God who "looks down the corridor of time" to see what men might respond. The response is willed in God's will. Paul's life was as intricately designed as the DNA that God gave him. God purposefully created both.

Is God Unfair? Continued...

Previously,I described how modern evangelicalism has an almost allergic reaction to the doctrine of divine unconditional election(UE). People impose an inconsistent "manish" view of God upon the doctrine, and misunderstand God's sense of fairness and justice.

Again we need to take the surgical steel of God's incisive WORD and cut into the heart of this bad theology.

To ask the Pauline question: "IS there unrighteousness with God?". Straight answer-GOD FORBID. Absolutely not! Why, some things just need to be stated. Paul derives his conclusion from Scripture. He quotes a part of Exodus that deals with, interestingly, the Glory of God and His choosing of Israel as a separated people from all other nations.( Exodus 33:13-16) Moses wanted to see YHWH's Glory, and for God to go with Israel to demonstrate his Presence to the world.

God condescends to Moses' request by saying " I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight..." Exodus 33:17. Notice that Moses found grace. God did not owe Moses anything. God determined by his grace to reveal Himself to Moses. He says to Moses further, " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion".

Paul applies this text to his treatise on God's election of grace in the New Covenant. Romans 9:16 "So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." Mercy is a divine attribute. God does not owe it to any sinner. Man's will cannot move God to give it. It is NOT OF HIM WHO WILLS. The will is hostile to God, and so we DESERVE the wrath of God. It is not our will, in bondage to the lusts of the carnal nature, but GOD'S WILL that is the basis of mercy.

Paul then takes up the example of Pharoah from Exodus. God's will was to show his power and Name through Pharoah, not to save Pharoah from his sins.

I can still hear the objection that it seems unfair, and unjust of God to harden a sinner's heart, or not to show them mercy. But, if such a person can prove that God owes grace to anyone who has violated His Law, them maybe they have a case. Ultimately, Paul leaves his readers with an illustration. It would be more familiar to his day, than ours, but still we can relate well. He tells us that God is the Potter who has the right to make his vessels for various purposes. Some vessels are for common use. They may be used to hold dirty water and be discarded. Other vessels may be for noble purposes. They may hold precious ointments. The vessels have no say in the Potter's work. He is the Maker and the one who shapes the vessels with his own hands.
Is God unfair? No. We are sinners, and it is fair of God to judge sinners. It is just of God to condemn the wicked. It is loving of God to love unconditionally some out of all who do not deserve, or are owed any electing love. So, like Paul said...who are you to talk back to God?

Amen

Is God Unfair?

Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For He says to Moses "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion".

Ever heard the common objection to that dreaded word "ELECTION"? It's not a term you hear in many modern churches. That's because John 3:16 is an overplayed and misunderstood proof text for the common evangelical church today. The common notion is that people have a free will that can make a "decision for Jesus", and that God chose to save everybody, but those who are lost decided to reject God.

What is the concern for such people? They are really concerned for the "fairness" or "equity" of God, and that man's human dignity is preserved. If God did elect sinners to be saved, then others were not chosen, so they missed their "chance" to get the opportunity to be saved. God then seems unjust, and unloving.

Of course, the problem is that such people are misunderstanding the categories of love & justice. The remedy for this is to think about election, love, justice, and human nature from a God centered theology, rather than a human minded philosophy. The fact is that it is God who defines "fairness", justice, equity, freedom, and basically...everything!

I believe that to think clearly on this matter it is important to start with God Himself. Since God is eternal, without beginning, uncaused, and without end, and he is infinite in his being, that all his attributes are limitless. So, for God to be powerful is for God to be ALL-powerful. All power is His by nature. He can do whatever He wants to do. And everything He wants to do is GOOD and JUST and WISE. Therefore, He is the only Sovereign Creator and Lord.
If we follow this consistently, we can deduce that no finite, created thing is independent of God. Our very lifebreath is from God and we are bodies of dust. Our freedom is even circumscribed within the divine will of the Creator. We even derive our essence from the God who is Spirit, and Whose image we bear. God determines our coming and going, whether our plans fail or succeed, if we live or die today, and even if, when and how, and for how long we violate His Law, and transgress Him.
Given that we have no independence from the absolutely almighty and sovereign Lord, how can we think that our choices are independent of Him?
Yes, we are free beings. People have much freedom to sin as they please. Reprobate people do as they please all the time. All of us are sinners by nature, who live by our desire to please SELF. So there is no neutrality here. Even if God granted us the opportunity to make a free choice, we would reject Him since we are "slaves of sin", and since " the carnal mind is enmity against God" Romans 8:8.
God willing,(there I go), I will continue to develop this post as time permits.
Amen