The irony of Rome accusing Protestants of adding to the Gospel is remarkable.
Paul explicitly teaches justification by faith apart from works (Romans 3:28). That's not an addition. That's Scripture.
Rome, meanwhile, dogmatized purgatory, indulgences, and Marian doctrines.
Sola Fide isn't another gospel. It's the biblical answer to how sinners are justified.
Galatians 1:8–9 is a warning Rome should take seriously.
Unity at the expense of biblical truth isn't the unity Christ prayed for.
You quoted John 17:21. Try reading John 17:17: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
The Reformers didn't divide the Church for sport. They challenged doctrines they believed contradicted Scripture.
The Gospel is worth defending. Truth is worth standing for.
Unity in Christ, not unity at any cost.
Happy Reformation Day!
Reformation pride is disgusting. Even if you agree with the Reformers, it should, at the very least, grieve your soul that you continue to splinter and separate.
Why should it grieve your soul? Because it grieves His.
“That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
John 17:21 (NIV)
Reformed Baptists are “functionally atheist” because we don't blindly accept medieval stories of flying priests? 😂
We believe God is sovereign over every atom and every moment of history.
What we reject is the idea that extraordinary claims become facts simply because Rome endorses them.
God's power isn't in question. Rome's credibility is.
Galatians 1:8 reminds us that even supernatural claims cannot authenticate a false gospel.
"The sovereignty of God is the foundation of Christian theology.”
A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God
Imagine believing that 1,433 years after the Council of Carthage affirmed the biblical canon, some random guy named Joseph Smith showed up claiming an angel gave him a NEW revelation and that Christianity had gotten it wrong.
And people actually believed him.
That's not the restoration of Christianity. That's the invention of a cult.
Galatians 1:8 already warned us about angels preaching another gospel.
Making arbitrary statements doesn't make them true.
If you love Jesus, you will follow His commandments (John 14:15).
Jesus never instructed us to pray to Mary. In fact, He explicitly taught us to pray to our heavenly Father (Matthew 6:9).
Loving Jesus more means following what He actually taught, not adding religious traditions He never commanded.
Bishops being traced back to Peter is made-up nonsense. Nothing in scripture even remotely establishes that.
What a spectacular misunderstanding of Sola Scriptura.
Nobody claims the Bible is a conscious, thinking entity. Scripture interprets Scripture because God is its ultimate author, and clearer passages illuminate less clear ones (2 Tim. 3:16; Luke 24:27).
History, archaeology, logic, and church testimony are valuable tools. Protestants have NEVER denied that. What we deny is that fallible human authorities can sit in judgment over God's infallible Word.
And here's the irony: You criticize individual interpretation because human minds are fallible, then propose OTHER fallible human minds as the solution!
Apparently, fallibility magically disappears when you call it Tradition.
Jesus Himself rebuked religious authorities for elevating human tradition above God's Word (Mark 7:8–13).
The Bereans were commended for TESTING apostolic preaching against Scripture (Acts 17:11).
The question isn't whether we use reason, history, or tradition.
The question is which authority has the FINAL word.
For Protestants, it's God speaking through Scripture.
For your argument, apparently, it's whoever gets to interpret Scripture for everyone else.
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REGENERATION PRECEDES FAITH: THE BIBLICAL CASE
This isn't merely a Calvinist assumption. It's the necessary conclusion of multiple biblical truths.
1. SPIRITUAL DEATH PRECEDES SPIRITUAL LIFE
Ephesians 2:1–5 declares that sinners are DEAD in trespasses and sins, and that God makes them ALIVE with Christ.
Notice the order: God acts upon the spiritually dead.
The question is simple: Does a spiritually dead sinner first produce saving faith, or does God grant life that enables faith?
2. THE NATURAL MAN CANNOT RECEIVE SPIRITUAL TRUTH
1 Corinthians 2:14 says the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, "neither can he know them."
Romans 8:7–8 says the fleshly mind CANNOT submit to God and CANNOT please Him.
Saving faith requires receiving Christ. Yet Scripture says the natural man cannot receive spiritual truth.
Something must change his nature first.
3. NEW BIRTH IS THE CAUSE, NOT THE RESULT, OF BELIEVING
1 John 5:1:
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God."
John describes believers as those who HAVE BEEN born of God.
Compare 1 John 2:29: Everyone who practices righteousness HAS BEEN born of Him.
Does practicing righteousness cause regeneration? No. It evidences regeneration.
The same grammatical construction supports the same relationship between new birth and faith.
4. GOD MUST ENABLE SINNERS TO COME TO CHRIST
John 6:44:
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."
John 6:65:
"No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
Jesus doesn't merely say sinners WILL NOT come. He says they CANNOT come unless God acts.
Divine enabling is logically prior to coming to Christ.
5. FAITH ITSELF IS GRANTED BY GOD
Philippians 1:29 says believing in Christ has been GRANTED to us.
Acts 16:14 says the Lord OPENED Lydia's heart to pay attention to Paul's message.
Notice: God opened her heart. She responded.
The divine action explains the believing response.
6. THE NEW BIRTH IS NOT PRODUCED BY HUMAN WILL
John 1:12–13 describes those who receive Christ and believe in His name as people born:
"Not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
John explicitly excludes human will as the source of the new birth.
John 3:3 likewise teaches that unless one is born again, he CANNOT see the kingdom of God.
Spiritual sight requires spiritual birth.
7. GOD'S WORK PRODUCES OUR RESPONSE
Ezekiel 36:26–27:
God gives a NEW HEART, puts His Spirit within His people, and CAUSES them to walk in His statutes.
The pattern is unmistakable:
God changes the heart → The person responds.
Not:
The person responds → God changes the heart.
THE CONCLUSION
Ephesians 2 establishes spiritual death.
1 Corinthians 2 establishes natural inability.
John 6 establishes the necessity of divine enabling.
John 1 establishes God's sovereignty in the new birth.
1 John 5 connects new birth with believing.
Philippians 1 establishes faith as God's gracious gift.
Ezekiel 36 establishes that God's transforming work produces a willing response.
Regeneration is the cause. Faith is the result. Justification is received through faith.
And before someone quotes Ephesians 2:8, Calvinists AGREE that salvation is through faith.
The question isn't whether we are justified through faith.
The question is WHY one spiritually dead sinner believes while another remains in unbelief.
Jesus answers:
"All that the Father gives me WILL come to me." John 6:37
God doesn't make us alive because we first believed. We believe because God graciously gives us life.
Soli Deo Gloria.
This is called deflection and gaslighting. The point of contention was thoroughly addressed. Nate just refuses to accept it . He commonly uses this tactic to avoid a counter argument because he doesn't have any.
Titus 3:5 says regeneration is HOW God saves, not that regeneration and salvation are synonymous.
Romans 5:1 says we're justified BY faith. Does that make faith and justification interchangeable? Of course not.
Regeneration is part of salvation, not the entirety of it.
Don't confuse your interpretation with Scripture itself.
😬Catholic Bishop Robert Barron says believing in Christ is NOT required for salvation.
"Vatican II clearly teaches that someone outside the explicit Christian faith can be saved...So, if you're following your conscience sincerely, or in your case [referring to a jew], you're following the commandments of the law sincerely, yeah, you can be saved.”
- Bishop Robert Barron