It seems to me there are far more passages of the New Testament that teach the critical importance of our response to the Divine calling than there are passages that stress the sovereign intervention of God in the plan of salvation.

Let us consider some of these, remembering they are just as inspired by the Holy Spirit as is true of the ninth chapter of the Book of Romans.

First, there is the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. Would we claim the five foolish were those whom God has not chosen? Doesn't the Lord Jesus stress, in the parable of the virgins, that the five foolish were kept from the Kingdom because they did not bring enough oil? Does Jesus give any indication at all that the five foolish had not been elected to salvation?

How about the parable of the talents? Did Jesus emphasize that the lazy servant wasted his Lord's money, or did Jesus point out that he never had been called of God in the first place?

If it is true that none of us will know whether he has been truly called until Jesus returns and hands out rewards, then we will not know until we die or until the Lord returns whether we actually have been saved.

Some teachers seem to imply that if a person falls away from Christ he or she never was saved in the first place. If the individual does not give witness of a changed life, he really was nothing more than a mere professor of Christ. Perhaps those who advance this concept may not realize they are claiming that the truly saved person is a new, righteous creation. In other words, the Divine intervention must be activated by our behavior. Faith without works is dead.

Notice how the Apostle Peter presented the critical importance of our behavior, the importance of responding to that which God has given to us sovereignly.

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. (II Peter 2:20,21—NIV)

Had the person at one time escaped the corruption of the world by knowing Christ?

Obviously.

What happened to our saved individual?

He or she became entangled in the sinful ways of the world.

He or she was overcome by sin.

Had the person at one time known the way of righteousness?

Yes.

The expression "the way of righteousness" appears to suggest a pattern of living rather than a theological position. Being entangled in the corruption of the world and overcome portrays behavior rather than doctrinal belief, it seems to me.

Did this person lose his salvation?

It appears so in that it would be better had he never had known Christ.

We must grasp that for which we have been grasped, Paul reminded us.

To be continued.