justified, and who now, even as Paul was writing these words, are already glorified in the presence of God. If indeed Paul was referencing the saints formerly known and loved by God, he would have communicated the certainty of their being justified, sanctified and finally glorified in a way that some might describe as a “golden chain of redemption.”[87] To presume, however, that Paul’s unbroken chain of past tense verbs is not in reference to people of the past is a linguistic stretch. [88] Calvinists must explain away the use of the past tense verbs in order to maintain their interpretation
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