Sovereignty and Responsibility: February 2013
Table of Contents
Sovereignty and Responsibility
“Whenever one’s heart is simple, it bows instinctively to the truth of God. If we are unsophisticated (I do not say converted), we feel how righteous, wholesome and good are God’s ways. Anything that distorts or even ignores the revealed character and mind of God is false and will always lead to wrong deductions. But in general the fault does not so much consist in mistaken deductions from Scripture as in human preconceptions and mere theorizing. There are Calvinistic speculations just as much as Arminian. It seems to me beyond question that both schemes are partial and do violence to the truth. The practical lesson is to cherish confidence only in God’s Word. We may safely rest, as we are bound to rest, in His revelation. The best of men, those who help most in ministry, are liable to err, and we must beware lest, merely changing names, we fall into the old snare of tradition or confidence in man. Our own day presents no better security than another. May we trust God and the Word of His grace, which are able to build us up! Our only safety is in simple and implicit subjection to the Word of God, and for this we need the guidance of the Spirit. But we are never sure of having the directing power of the Spirit with us unless the eye is single to Christ.”
W. Kelly
How Unsearchable Are His Judgments and His Ways Past Finding Out!
The revelation of God to man is not only a wonder, but also a miracle. The fact that an infinite God wishes to reveal Himself and His ways to His finite creature man is a wonder, but that He is able to do so is a miracle. God has revealed Himself in sending His Son into this world as a man, but He has also given us His Word. In His Word we see an infinite God communicating truth concerning Himself — truth that must also be infinite. Yet this infinite truth is being given to finite creatures and in human language that they can understand! While the words are able to be understood, Scripture tells us that they are also “words ... which the Holy Ghost teacheth” (1 Cor. 2:13). Thus, while the words are understandable, yet the truth they convey is ultimately beyond man’s comprehension. When we read the Word of God, we marvel on the one hand at its simplicity, so that even a child can grasp the fundamental meaning. On the other hand, there are heights and depths of truth that go far beyond man’s ability to reason. As someone has remarked, “There is nothing in Scripture contrary to reason, but there are many things that are beyond reason.”
Parallel Truths
In presenting truth concerning Himself, God often gives us two parallel truths, both of which are clear and definite, and yet unable to be totally reconciled to one another in the human mind. The subject of this issue is one of those — God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. There are many others in the Word of God. We will mention two, just to show this. One that causes us to wonder and adore is the Person of Christ. He is “over all, God blessed forever,” yet He was “made in ... likeness of men.” Man cannot understand the perfect union of God and man in one person, yet we can accept it and worship. In a more practical sense, we have in Scripture the exhortation to respect and submit to the rule and authority of elders and guides in the local assembly. On the other hand, “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Again, it is difficult to reconcile these in the human mind.
The Mind of Man
Where does all this leave us? First of all, we need to recognize that there are revelations in God’s Word that the mind of man cannot understand completely. To attempt to do so will only lead us into error, and the more brilliant a man’s mind, the more likely He is to fall into error in the things of God, if he relies on his natural mind. Truly, His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways are past finding out (Rom. 11:33). We are safe insofar as we submit to the language and teaching of Scripture, but reasoning in such things will take us down a wrong road. Much of the error that has been introduced into the church has not been outright wrong doctrine, but rather distortions of truth and a lack of balance in handling them. In this respect, G. V. Wigram made these excellent remarks:
“Heresy is not departing from the figure of truth, but from the Spirit of truth, and it is the spirit of the heretic we are called upon to judge as a work of the flesh more than the fruit in the form of doctrine. ...
“If anyone, instead of looking for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, dabbles with his own mind in Scripture, he will see either something in the book which is not there, or the contents of the book out of their proper order and relative importance, etc., and here heresy begins. ... He will not deal with the truth as a Spirit-led man would.
“As heresy begins with the natural mind playing with truth, so its mode and means of success are to get the saints upon hard points and questions, and to get them thinking instead of praying.”
The Truth Known in Communion
This brings us to the second point to be made, namely, that God has a purpose in presenting His truth to man in this way. It is not that God deliberately presents truth in such a way as to be hard to understand. Rather, it is God seeking to show man that it is not an intellectual grasp of truth that is to be desired, but rather “as the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21). God wants our affections and our hearts, and His truth is communicated to us so that we may learn more of Himself and walk in fellowship with Him. It is true that there are heights and depths in the Word of God that we can never exhaust and upon which we may meditate all our lives. However, the object of all this ought to be a closer walk with the Lord and an increasing sense of who He is. When Scripture is read in the right way and with the reverence which is due to the Lord, we will recognize that only the Holy Spirit can interpret it to us. When it is properly read, Scripture always drives us back to its Author. When we find something that is beyond human understanding, we will seek guidance from the Holy Spirit and will bow in humble adoration and praise that such a God has chosen to reveal Himself to us.
Right from the beginning of man’s history in this world, God has wanted the company and fellowship of His creature. His Word reveals God so that our understanding of Him may be increased, while at the same time showing us infinite truth and infinite glories that are beyond man’s insight. However, in walking in communion with God, we can enjoy and appreciate those precious truths, even if we do not fully understand them. We can practically apply those truths in our lives, because we are walking with the One who gave them to us. “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16).
W. J. Prost
The Sovereignty of God and the Responsibility of Man
If the second chapter of John proves the ruin of man, the third chapter presents the complete setting aside of the man that is ruined in order to bring in a new race by the sovereign action of God in new birth and the work of Christ upon the cross (John 3:1-16). Nevertheless, the sovereignty of God does not set aside the responsibility of man. Hence, man’s responsibility to come to the light and believe in the Son is fully set forth (John 3:17-21).
The Sovereignty of God
The deeply important truths connected with God’s sovereign work in man are developed in the story of Nicodemus, one who presents man at his best. Yet we learn that all these human excellencies will not enable a man to enter the kingdom of God, for that which is flesh is flesh. Apart from the sovereign grace of God working in us, none would come to Christ.
Nicodemus had reached a right conclusion about Christ, based upon the external evidence of miracles. It was so far a just conclusion which the human mind is capable of reaching, but, if nothing more than human reason, it leaves the soul at a distance from God and without any sense of the need of Christ. However, there was in Nicodemus a sense of need. Others reasoned and stayed away; Nicodemus also reasoned but came, proving that behind his reasoning, and unknown to himself, there was a work of God in his soul, producing a sense of need and drawing him to Jesus. The moment a sense of need is produced in the soul, there is the consciousness that the religion of the flesh — official position as a ruler and reputation as a teacher — are not enough. When this sense of need is produced by the Spirit, there will be at the same time the consciousness that only Christ can meet it. Hence the soul is drawn to Christ.
The Necessity of New Birth
Nicodemus calls the Lord Rabbi (Master), taking the place of the learner. With no real knowledge of himself, he imagines that he is quite capable of learning if only he has someone to teach him. The Lord’s reply, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” at once sweeps away Nicodemus’ natural aptitude to learn, for it is all of the old nature and worthless when it is a question of being taught in the things of God. By human reason and natural abilities we can see a great many things in nature, but we cannot see the kingdom of God. For this there must be a work of God in the soul, here spoken of as new birth. This work of God is necessary not only to see the kingdom but also to enter it. To have part in the kingdom in any form, whether morally or in its outward glory, there must be a nature suited to the kingdom.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh” is a far-reaching statement. It shows that nothing after the flesh will do for the kingdom of God. We have then the necessity of this new birth, but we learn further, in verses 7-8, that this new birth is entirely of God. In contrast with Nicodemus and the leaders of Israel who took the place of teachers and yet were ignorant of their own Scriptures, the Lord spoke of truths of which He had perfect knowledge and testified of things that He had seen. He not only knows what is in man (John 2:25), but He knows all that is in the heart of God. He knows the greatness of God’s grace to meet our need. Nevertheless, the Lord has to add, “Ye receive not our witness.” When One testifies who has perfect knowledge and that witness is rejected, it proves the utter hopelessness of man when left to himself. Thus we have a complete exposure and setting aside of the natural man at his best. All proves the great truth that man “must be born [anew]” — a better translation than “again,” for the word does not imply a modification or change of the old nature, but the impartation of a nature that is entirely new from its beginning. The Holy Spirit does not work on the natural man, as if to turn a bad state into a good state; rather, there is wrought in the man that which is entirely new.
Heavenly Things
In the first part of the chapter the Lord has been speaking of earthly things — the kingdom of God and the necessity of new birth to see and enter the kingdom. In verses 12-13, the Lord passes on to speak of heavenly things and eternal life and the necessity of the cross. If new birth is needed in order to see earthly things, much more is it needed to apprehend heavenly things. There is One who in grace came down from heaven to bring a report of heavenly things — the Son of Man, which is in heaven. This is an expression of the deepest meaning. It shows that though the Lord is truly man, yet He is a man connected with heaven. He may visit earth, but His home is in heaven. It is not, however, the thought of God that Christ should be the only man in that bright scene. The Son of Man being lifted up, the good news can now be proclaimed, “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The effect of Christ’s work — of His being lifted up for all that believe — is eternal life. The believer enters into the new and heavenly relationships of the Son of Man.
God’s Side
In this passage the gospel is presented from God’s side. It is the good news of the love and purpose of God’s heart, rather than the good news of that which meets our need. The sovereignty of God is prominent, and the gospel is presented in all its greatness from God’s side. In these verses everything is traced back to its source, whether in God or man. In God, the source of all His actions is found in His love; in man, the source of all the trouble is found in what he is, and not simply what he has done. The end, in God’s purpose, is eternal life in a heavenly sphere for those who believe. For those who do not believe, the wrath of God abides on them forever.
The Responsibility of Man
If the first part of the chapter presents the sovereignty of God, the verses that follow bring before us the responsibility of man. God, in His love, has sent His Son into the world, not to condemn, but that the world through Him might be saved. If verse 17 tells us we can be saved only “through Him,” the following verses tell us that those who reject Him are “condemned already.” If they reject Christ, whatever else they may have done, they are condemned already. Man’s responsibility is based upon the fact that “light is come into the world,” revealing the heart of God. The fact that man has made himself incapable of availing himself of the light does not affect his responsibility. Men love darkness rather than light; thus, by his evil deeds man has made himself incapable of profiting by the light. Man’s evil deeds lead him to hate the light that exposes his deeds and disturbs his conscience. An uneasy conscience makes the light insupportable, while he that puts the truth into practice will not fear the light.
Christ’s Testimony
John has to add the solemn fact that “no man receiveth His testimony.” This testimony of heavenly things has no interest for men who neither understand nor desire the things of heaven. No man, if left to himself, receives the testimony of Christ. It can be received only by faith. The one who receives the testimony does so on the authority of God; he sets to his seal that God is true. The fullness of truth presented by such a glorious Person leads, if received, into the fullness of blessing — everlasting life — but if rejected, will finally leave the rejecter under the judgment of God forever.
H. Smith, adapted
Man Is Responsible
Man is responsible to live before God according to the position he is in as man. He has got wholly out of this. Morally he is a sinner. But the character of the responsibility depends on the relationship between man and God, and man and man. He has to act according to the relationship in which he is as man toward each. He does not cease to be responsible, even if he no longer has the power to fulfill his responsibilities.
But God's salvation is another thing. That is not our responsibility. Christ comes into the state, in grace and love, in which we were by sin, Himself sinless and the object of divine favor in doing it, but He came and died and drank the cup of wrath. He has closed, for all who believe on Him and in the Father’s love in Him, the whole question relative to the first Adam and our sinful life. We own that we had enmity against God, condemned, guilty; this He has taken upon Himself as bearing it before God; that is, the whole consequence of our responsibility as men, and IT IS CLOSED. He has died as bearing it; He has died to sin once, and he that is dead is freed from sin. Thus, in our representative, all whose work is available to us, the whole question of our responsibility as men has closed in judgment and death for me, as I had discovered it had as to myself. The life has passed away in which I lived and was responsible to God. I exist no more, as living, as a child of the first Adam. “If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world?” says Paul. “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I.” “Reckon yourselves therefore to be dead indeed unto sin.” Christ has perfectly glorified God’s righteousness in respect of all the evil, but all has passed away in His death judicially as to which God had to be glorified.
Christ Settled Man’s Case
The whole question of our responsibility, as living in the life of Man before God, is settled by Christ’s judicially bearing the consequences before God and by the death of the life in which we stood as sinners. But then Christ is now a new life. He is risen, and we are alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me. I am quickened together with Christ and raised up together. God has quickened us together with Him, having forgiven us all trespasses. They are buried in His grace, and I am alive anew and without them.
But there is more than this. There is a divine righteousness in which Christ stands before God, as risen — that is, in which I stand in the power of a new life as risen with Him. I am made the righteousness of God in Him. As He is, so am I in this world. This is in the reality of a life in which we live, which is Christ, and of a divine righteousness in which we stand before God, which is Christ. Not I, but Christ lives in me.
The New and True Responsibility
What is now my responsibility? Here, then, I enter into the true kind of responsibility, in contrast with the hopeless and sin-convincing one into which I got by the fall, a responsibility which was really according to a lost position, that I might find out my ruin and condemnation. My responsibility now is a responsibility flowing from the position in which I am. He that says he abides in Christ ought to walk as He walked. A child of God, and such forever, ought to walk as a child of God, “as dear children.” My responsibility is that of a Christian. I am to walk as one, because I am one, not that I may be one.
Adapted from
Girdle of Truth, 3:15
Election and Predestination
Closely akin to the obvious fact of God’s sovereignty lies the truth of election, that is, God, acting in sovereign grace, has chosen some persons out of many with a view to blessing them. God chose Abraham out of an idol-worshipping world and made him the depositary of His promises and blessings, and who shall challenge His right to do so? It was God’s choice, not Abraham’s.
When we come to the New Testament, we find that “He [God] hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4). The point of time of His choosing does not enter into the question of His sovereignty, for it would still be His choice if He should choose some now or at any time. The fact that He did it before the foundation of the world shows that He had His thought and counsel about certain people before the world existed. He chose them independently of the world, and they were not to be of it (though in it for a time), as the Lord Jesus said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16).
Election
Peter also wrote of election when addressing the converted Jews, saying, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2). They had been chosen by God out of an unbelieving nation. It was His sovereign choice, not theirs. As the Lord said to His disciples, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16).
Christians should not, however, rush to the conclusion that whenever we find the word “elect” in Scripture it refers to us, for God has elect ones in other dispensations, as Abraham most surely was in his day. The Lord Jesus said that when the Son of Man comes, He shall send His angels and “gather together His elect from the four winds” (Matt. 24:31). These will be the elect Jews out of an apostate nation when He comes back to reign. Paul also speaks of elect angels (1 Tim. 5:21), which we judge to be those that were kept from sinning when many others did.
Predestination
Predestination is often confused with election, or choosing, and many profitless controversies have thereby ensued. While God set His heart upon us and chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, He has predestinated to something those whom He thus chose. So we read in Ephesians 1:5 of those whom He chose: “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Predestination then is the purpose of God concerning those whom He chose. He chose us out of a lost race that “we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,” and then He marked us out, or predestinated us, “unto the adoption of children.” It is the peculiar place belonging to those whom God has chosen in this age. In Romans 8:29 we read of being predestinated “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Again, it is plain that predestination is separate and distinct from election or choosing and is the marking out of the chosen ones to a certain portion.
One servant of the Lord used this homely illustration to explain God’s predestination: a father of a large family marked out each child for a certain vocation in life — one son was to be a physician, another an accountant, and another an engineer.
Foreknowledge
“Foreknowledge” is another word that is often confused with election, and even made to limit it, but there is no reason for such confusion. Foreknowledge is God’s knowing certain persons in a past eternity; it is a knowledge of persons, not what they would do. (Not but what He does know, as omniscient, all that everyone does and will do.) When God chose to have a people out of a lost race before Him in love, He did not merely decide that a certain number of persons had to be saved to fill up certain niches in heaven, but He actually knew these persons individually. In Romans 8 we read, “Whom He did foreknow,” not, “What He foreknew.” Nor does it mean that He merely foreknew the fact that we would be saved, but that He foreknew each one individually. Peter also said, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God”; He knew the persons whom He chose.
No Place for Carelessness
All of this is most comforting to the heart of the saved soul. We gladly acknowledge that it was all of His grace and that we were the unworthy objects of His sovereign choice. This does not (as some charge) make for any carelessness in our walk, for He who chose us created us “in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Where Peter speaks of election, the same principle holds true, for our election of God is unto sanctification (or setting apart) of the Spirit “unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” We are set apart by the Spirit, not only to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, but to His obedience; that is, we are to obey as He did. And how was that? He as a man always had a will that delighted in God’s will. He could say, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God,” and “I do always those things that please Him [the Father].” His was not a legal obedience where a human will had to submit itself to God’s will, but His will always was to do the Father’s will (except that He shrank from being made sin — a part of His divine perfection).
Adapted from Christian Truth
Grace and Sovereignty
Job’s First Claim and Judging God
Job said, “I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. Behold, He findeth occasions against me, He counteth me for His enemy, He putteth my feet in the stocks, He marketh all my paths” (Job 33:9-11). Job claims God is not being fair, for he has judged himself to be innocent, yet God has treated him as an enemy and using His superior power has stepped on him and his family.
Elihu responds, “Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Why dost thou strive against Him? for He giveth not account of any of His matters.” Elihu upholds the sovereign rights of God.
As sovereign, God doesn’t owe us any explanations for anything that He does. In the greatness of His heart He gives many explanations for many things that He does. But the moment I feel that He owes me an explanation for anything, I’m out of my place as a created being, and I’m on the ground of my own self-sufficiency. “Why dost thou strive against Him?” Graciously, He gives us many answers, and He wants us to come and seek answers from Him for the whys and wherefores of life. But we cross over onto the wrong side of the question when our hearts demand them and we think we have the right to them.
“If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness” (Job 33:23). In the Darby translation there is a footnote concerning the expression “his uprightness.” It says, “His uprightness in judging himself.” Oh for that “one among a thousand” who will help the saints of God by bringing them into the presence of the Lord so that they judge themselves, so that they see themselves in the light of God. Elihu is such a one. The result is of remarkable benefit to Job, because Elihu brings him into the presence of the Lord, and there he judges himself and receives the benefit.
Job’s Second Claim
and Righteousness
Job said, “I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment. Should I lie against my right?” (Job 34:5-6). Job claims the right to make his own judgment in a matter between himself and God. This is wrong. Job is claiming that God is unrighteous, because he is righteous and yet God is not treating him any differently than He is treating the wicked.
Elihu responds, “What man is like Job, who ... walketh with wicked men. For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God. Far be it from God, that He should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that He should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall He render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.” Again Elihu upholds the sovereign rights of God. God is righteous. (God being righteous and sovereign is the foundation of all morality.) God is sovereign, and so we are never to stand in judgment about anything He does. God judges us; we are never to judge Him.
While man has no right to set his own judgment against God’s, Elihu upholds the truth concerning God. God never does wickedness; the Almighty never perverts judgment. He in whose hands the whole earth is held is the “all-just” one. His eyes are upon man, seeing all that he does. And when He chooses to act, He does not hold court, but acts according to His sovereign rights and power. He hears the cries of the afflicted, and He acts upon their behalf in judgment of the wicked.
Job’s Third Claim and Rebellion
Job said, “I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: that which I see not teach Thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more” (Job 34:31-32).
Elihu responds, “Should it be according to thy mind? He will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest. ... Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom. My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.” The more Job argued and multiplied his words, the more he sinned. Elihu correctly charges Job with refusing the judgment of God in His ways with Job. Should God be bound by Job’s judgment of the matter?
At this point Elihu introduces another important thought into the conversation that the Lord adds to later and which is crucial to knowing and accepting the judgments of God. He says that Job has been speaking without knowledge and without wisdom (vs. 35 JND). God alone, as sovereign, is all-knowing. All judgments He makes are based upon His perfect and complete knowledge of everything. Man never knows everything. Consequently, man has no right to question any judgment of God’s. Correct judgments depend upon correct knowledge.
In chapter 28 Job gives an excellent and interesting treatise on wisdom, concluding with the statement, “And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” We might understand as Job did concerning wisdom and still have to learn the same lesson as Job. Wisely, Job did fear the Lord and in understanding he did depart from evil. God says so in the very first verse of the book. Yet Job wrongly condemned God. Why? Wisdom and understanding require knowledge. No man has full knowledge. A properly wise and understanding man is one who learns not to trust in his own knowledge, but who always depends upon God, who alone knows all. He is a man who trusts in the judgments of God and not in his own understanding or wisdom. Unlike Elihu, Job’s three friends got their knowledge from their own experiences rather than from God.
Job’s Fourth Claim and Arrogancy
The fourth time Elihu quotes Job, he says, “Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s? For thou hast asked of what profit it is unto thee: what do I gain more than if I had sinned?” (Job 35:2-3 JND).
Job compared how he acted with how God acted and judged that his actions were more righteous than God’s. Having gone that far in his thinking, he questions the gain of being righteous, since, in his mind, God treated him no better than He did a sinful man.
In answering, Elihu first turns Job’s statements around so that they are viewed from God’s side of the question instead of Job’s — a very helpful principle to follow in seeking to understand spiritual things. Job had said, What profit is it to me to be righteous? Elihu responded, What profit is it to God if you are righteous? What does He gain? “If thou be righteous, what givest thou to Him?”
Job had admitted that he could not see God in the matter. He had searched for Him and could not find Him. Why wasn’t God coming out to deal with him face to face with someone to act as judge? To this Elihu answered, “Although thou sayest thou dost not see Him, judgment is before Him, therefore wait for Him. But now, because He hath not visited in His anger, doth not Job know his great arrogancy? For Job hath opened his mouth in vanity, and made words abundant without knowledge” (Job 35:14-16 JND).
Elihu’s statement illustrates that God is not only sovereign in His ways but in His timing. When we do not see, then “wait for Him.” Elihu charges Job with arrogancy. While God is righteously angry with man, He is patient and long-suffering in His ways with him. Man uses that very time of patience to become bold and arrogant in his judgments and actions against God.
Upholding God’s Righteousness
After responding to Job’s specific statements, Elihu continues to speak in order to “ascribe righteousness to my Creator.” To summarize what Elihu says: “God is mighty.” “God is exalted in His power: who teacheth as He?” “God is great, and we comprehend Him not.” God is “doing great things which we do not comprehend.” In His ways with us, He may use His creation “as a rod, or for His land, or in mercy.” God is “perfect in knowledge.” What can we teach God? He concludes, “The Almighty, we cannot find Him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: He will not afflict. Men do therefore fear Him: He respecteth not any that are wise of heart.”
D. F. Rule
Calvinism and Arminianism
With the Lord’s help, we would like to consider the subjects of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. The two subjects are often set in opposition to each other, as though they were mutually contradictory, rather than complimentary. Both are true, and they are found side by side in the Word of God. Parties and sects have been formed around each subject, while much heat and little light have been generated on both sides.
A stormy controversy arose in the latter part of the sixteenth century between the followers of John Calvin (1509-1564) and Jacobus Arminius, whose real name was Jacob Harmensen, or Herrnansz (1560-1609). The battle between Calvinists and Arminians is still going on.
Calvinism
Calvin saw and taught the total ruin of man, and that since Adam fell, all his posterity were born in sin and possessed a will opposed to God. Thus Calvinism taught that mankind was hopelessly lost unless God stepped in and saved some, but that this He did, first by His own sovereign choice in a past eternity and then by giving them faith in Christ when they were living on the earth. Calvin then went on to falsely assert that those not selected for salvation were selected for hell — an example of where human reason leads to error in trying to reconcile by the human mind what is beyond the human mind to comprehend.
Arminianism
Arminius denied that man was beyond the power to help himself, contending that he could, by exercising his own free will, improve himself, and that at least he had the power to accept the good and refuse the evil — to exercise faith in Christ or reject Him. This is generally termed the doctrine of “free will.”
Free Will
Has man today such a thing as a free will morally? No! Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden by his Creator. He was perfect in innocence, for God, after creating him, looked at His creation and said it was “very good.” He was happy in relationship with his Creator, but to remain so he needed to walk in obedience, for that was the only right thing for a creature. He was not outwardly forced to remain in that state; there was only one test applied to him in the matter of obedience. He was to abstain from the fruit of only one tree, and God warned him of the consequences of disobedience. As soon, then, as he exercised his own will, he sinned. This was not all; he became a sinner with a will opposed to God. From that moment forward, all of mankind (with the single exception of the “Lord from heaven,” “the second Man,” “the last Adam”) have been disposed to the evil of self-will. Since man’s will is now inclined toward evil, how can he by the exercise of it bring himself back to God? Let us quote from another on the subject of free will:
“A man being really set to choose between evil and good ... is alike horrible and absurd, because it supposes the good and evil to be outside and himself neither. If he is one or the other in disposition, the choice is there. To have a fair choice, he must be personally indifferent, but to be in a state of indifference to good and evil is perfectly horrible. If a man has an inclination, his choice is not free; a free will is rank nonsense morally, because, if he has a will, he wills something. God can will to create. But will in moral things [in man] means either self-will, which is sin (for we ought to obey), or an inclination to something, which is really a choice made as far as will goes.”
“To say that he [man] is not inclined to evil is to deny all Scripture and all fact; to make him free to choose he must be as yet indifferent, indifferent to — having no preference for — good and evil, which is not true, for evil lusts and self-will are there, the two great elements of sin, and if it were true would be perfectly horrible.”
“The doctrine of free will helps on the doctrine of the natural man’s pretension not to be entirely lost, for that is really what it amounts to. All men who have never been deeply convinced of sin, all persons with whom this conviction is based upon gross and outward sins, believe more or less in free will. You know that it is the dogma ... of all reasoners, of all philosophers. But this idea completely changes all the idea of Christianity and entirely perverts it.”
The Need of New Birth
If natural man could by the exercise of his own will bring himself into favor with God, then it is not true that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” but God’s Word is true. It would likewise negate the positive declaration, “Ye must be born again.” Why did the Lord say, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him”? Because man’s heart is so far estranged from God that if man were left to himself he would never come. It is true, as in the parable, that when the invitation reaches needy sinners, “they all with one consent [begin] to make excuse” (Luke 14:18). They not only have a nature disposed toward evil, but they are not disposed to accept God’s gracious invitation, no, not even with God’s beseeching them to come. If it were not for sovereign grace that drew any of us to Christ, none would have partaken of God’s free gift.
Scripture completely sets aside any good in man, as our Lord said, “Ye will not come to Me,” not even when He was graciously seeking them. The will was at fault. Again we read of His own, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). And in James 1:18, “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” Even the faith to believe in Him is not of ourselves, but “is the gift of God” (see Eph. 2:8). When the redeemed ones in glory render praise and worship to the Lamb who saved them (Rev. 5), there will be no one present who was saved by exercising his own will or apart from the constraining of divine grace. Not one will be there who will mar that new song by taking any credit to himself, not even for his faith. Every one there will be there as the evident trophy of God’s grace, even as Mephibosheth in David’s house was visible evidence of David’s goodness (2 Sam. 9).
Christian Truth, Vol. 12, adapted
The Sovereign Ways of God
The history of Edom throughout Scripture is one of much interest, as exhibiting the ways of God with a people akin to Israel, but with fortunes more and more diverging from the chosen people of God. In this history we see thoroughly maintained the principle of moral responsibility which God never abandons, but holds inviolably true and sacred. This is equally applicable to the enemies of God and to His friends. The sovereign wisdom of God needs neither to learn anything from man on the one hand, nor grounds on man’s part in order to decide His will on the other. He exercised His own mind and purpose, even before the birth of the children of Isaac. It was so ordered that the character of the flesh should be manifest, not merely where there was wickedness in the family, but where there was faith. Isaac stands out as remarkable for piety in the retired calm of a godly household, as decidedly as Abraham does for a stronger and more self-renouncing communion with God. Abraham’s faith was exercised in a field more varied and conspicuous. There was more of a public testimony in the man whom God called His friend. As Isaac was more retiring, so also was he apt to yield overmuch when tried. He was the chosen heir, to the setting aside of the bondmaid’s son Ishmael. In Isaac’s family it was between the twin sons Jacob and Esau of the same father and mother, that God afresh exercised His sovereignty. It is impossible to find greater closeness in point of circumstance! This therefore makes it all the more striking when we find God even before their birth pronouncing on the ultimate and distinct destiny of the two sons. If God had not been pleased to choose, it is evident that the two could not have exactly the same place. Was God then to abolish His title? Or to leave it to man with only Satan to influence? It was most fitting then that He should choose which was to have the superior place. They could not both be invested with first-born rights; one must be chosen for the better place. The order either of flesh or of God’s choice must prevail. Which is most right? Assuredly God, whatever may be His grace, always maintains His own sovereignty. He chose therefore Jacob the younger, and not Esau, for this could only have given importance to man in the flesh — man as he is in his fallen condition without God. Impossible that He should make light of the fall or of its consequences: He therefore chooses and acts.
The Judgment Which Follows
At the same time it is remarkable that, while the first book of the Bible points out the choice of God from the beginning, He does not pronounce morally on Esau in a full, complete way until the last book of the Old Testament. It is only in Malachi that he says, “I hated Esau.” Never does Scripture represent God as saying before the child was born and had manifested his iniquity and proud malice, “Esau have I hated.” There is where the mind of man is so false. It is not meant, however, that God’s choice was determined by the character of the individuals. This would make man the ruler rather than God. It is not so; God’s choice flows out of His own wisdom and nature. It suits and is worthy of Himself, but the reprobation of any man and of every unbeliever is never a question of the sovereignty of God. It is the choice of God to do good where and how He pleases; it is never the purpose of His will to hate any man. There is no such doctrine in the Bible. God’s election is a most clear and scriptural truth. But the consequence that men draw from election, namely, the reprobation of the non-elect, is a mere reproduction of fatalism. It is the unfounded deduction of man’s reasoning in divine things. But man’s reasoning in the things of God, not being based on the divine revelations of His mind in His Word, is essentially and invariably false. It is impossible for man to reason justly in the abstract as to the will of God. The only safe ground for man is to adhere to the simple exposition of God’s declarations, and this for the very simple reason that a man can only reason from his own mind, which is far indeed from being God’s mind. Reasoning means deduction according to the necessary laws of the human mind. Here, however, the groundwork being the will of God, in order to reason aright one must reason from what God is and says. The danger is of inferring from what man is and from what man feels. Such is the essential difference between what is trustworthy and what is worthless in questions of the kind. Man must submit to being judged by God and His Word, and not seek to judge for Him. No man is competent to think or speak in His stead. But we may and ought to learn what He has told us of Himself and His ways in His Word.
The Hardening of Heart
There is no serious difficulty as to what is said in Scripture concerning the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. It can be readily shown that such a judicial dealing on God’s part is unquestionably righteous. Scripture lets us see the proud, cruel and blaspheming character of Pharaoh before the hardening; nor does it speak of the Lord hardening his heart till he had fully committed himself to self-will and contempt of God. The infliction of hardening came from God because of the rebellious opposition to His demands and authority. God may deal with a man today in this manner, but He never hardens him in the first instance that he should not believe. But after he has heard and refused to believe, God seals him up in an obdurate state. In no instance, however, is this the first act of God, but rather the last, judicial and retributive, when man has slighted an adequate and faithful testimony.
W. Kelly, adapted
His Choice
How sweet and awesome is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores.
Here all the mercy of our God
With vast compassion rolls;
And peace and pardon through His blood
Is food for ransomed souls.
While all our hearts in prayer and song
Join to admire the feast,
Each wonders with a thankful tongue,
“Lord, why am I a guest?”
“Why was I made to hear Your voice
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice
And rather starve than come?”
’Twas the same love that spread the feast,
That sweetly forced me in,
Else I had still refused to taste
And perished in my sin.
I. Watts