Cornelius in Acts 10 goes against calvinism

[civic]

How could someone who is totally depraved , not regenerated, be a devout man who is God fearing ?

How can God hear the prayers of a dead and totally depraved man ?

 

[civic]

Malachi 3:16- Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

above the Lord hears the unregenerate dead people. The unregenerate, totally depraved are fearing the Lord just like Cornelius.

 

[Bobby Walker]

Here are two saints from the bible that according to total depravity should not have been able or willing to choose Jesus as their savior.

Acts 10:1–2
“Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.”

Cornelius was a God-fearer—one who affiliated himself with the Jewish synagogue and who sought to align himself religiously with the God of Israel. But the whole point of the passage is to underscore his inclusion into the New Testament people of God through regeneration; in other words he was not regenerated when the description of him is given in Acts 10:1–2. But how could, according to Calvinism, such an unregenerate man do so many good things—be devout, fear God, give alms, pray? Such behavior is impossible for unregenerate persons according to Calvinism.


Acts 16:30–34
“After he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”

In this case, the Philippian jailer was not a God-fearer and in fact there is no indication that he was religiously anything but a pagan. Yet, in response to the dangers posed to him by the earthquake that threatened to allow all the prisoners in his charge to escape, and having heard Paul and Silas singing hymns, he seeks salvation, is told what to do (believe in the Lord Jesus), responds positively to the gospel call and is converted. Again, we must ask, if total depravity were true, how could the jailer seek a good (search out for salvation) and then respond as God would have him respond? There is nothing in the text whatsoever to suggest that God’s Spirit was somehow working secretly to cause him to be regenerated before believing.


Geoffrey D. Robinson, Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree? A Biblical and Theological Critique of Calvinist Soteriology

 

[civic]

Here are two saints from the bible that according to total depravity should not have been able or willing to choose Jesus as their savior.

Acts 10:1–2
“Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually.”

Cornelius was a God-fearer—one who affiliated himself with the Jewish synagogue and who sought to align himself religiously with the God of Israel. But the whole point of the passage is to underscore his inclusion into the New Testament people of God through regeneration; in other words he was not regenerated when the description of him is given in Acts 10:1–2. But how could, according to Calvinism, such an unregenerate man do so many good things—be devout, fear God, give alms, pray? Such behavior is impossible for unregenerate persons according to Calvinism.


Acts 16:30–34
“After he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”

In this case, the Philippian jailer was not a God-fearer and in fact there is no indication that he was religiously anything but a pagan. Yet, in response to the dangers posed to him by the earthquake that threatened to allow all the prisoners in his charge to escape, and having heard Paul and Silas singing hymns, he seeks salvation, is told what to do (believe in the Lord Jesus), responds positively to the gospel call and is converted. Again, we must ask, if total depravity were true, how could the jailer seek a good (search out for salvation) and then respond as God would have him respond? There is nothing in the text whatsoever to suggest that God’s Spirit was somehow working secretly to cause him to be regenerated before believing.


Geoffrey D. Robinson, Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree? A Biblical and Theological Critique of Calvinist Soteriology

Amen great post.