Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from
his ways, and live? (Ezek. 18:23).
(I)
[Source: Anatomie
of Arminianism (London:
T. S. for Nathaniel Newbery, 1620), p. 250; emphasis added]
Ezekiel
18.23. God saith in these words; I am
not delighted with the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted, and
live. These
words [contrary to the Arminians] say nothing else than that God will[s] not
the death of that sinner who is converted: But if he be not converted, Arminius himself will not deny,
but that God doth will his death—as the judge doth will the punishment of him
that is guilty. God is not delighted with the death of a sinner, as he is a
man, but yet no man can deny, but that God loveth the execution of his justice.
----------------------------------------
(II)
Richard A. Muller
(II)
Richard A. Muller
[Source: “A Tale of Two
Wills? Calvin, Amyraut, and Du Moulin on Ezekiel 18:23,” in Calvin and the Reformed Tradition on the Work of Christ and the
Order of Salvation (Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker, 2012); emphasis added]
As
to the interpretation of Ezekiel 18[:23], the text clearly indicates that God ‘desires
not the death of a sinner,’ but Du Moulin notes that this in no way declares
that God is regretful or reluctant or that there is any change in the divine
decree. Indeed, ‘it is without regret, and with a full approval, that God wills
that a sinner, if he repents and returns, he will live and not perish.’ Those
who continue in their sinful and impenitent state, however, will be punished,
as the prophet Ezekiel himself declares in several places—‘justice,’ Du Moulin
declares, is also a ‘virtue of God: and God
does not exercise any of his virtues with regret’ ... In accord with
Calvin’s interpretation [of Ezekiel 18:23], Du
Moulin also indicated that the required repentance does not reflect a
hypothetical intention to save the reprobate or an alteration in the
divine decree.” (pp. 120-121).
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(III)
More to come! (DV)
(III)
More to come! (DV)
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