The context for this essay was a disagreement among family members regarding the doctrines of “predestination” and “free will”. In answer to an email from one family member to me, I wrote the following:
I think the problems and reasons so few admit to both predestination and free will are many, including but not limited to the following:
1. Cherry-picking Scriptures to use as "proof texts".
2. Skewed definition of "free".
3. Skewed understanding of God.
4. Skewed understanding of predestination and election.
5. Skewed understanding of the fall of man and the current condition of sinful man.
I'll take the above in order and explain what I mean by each. This will take you a while to read, but I benefited greatly by writing and pray that you will benefit at least as greatly by reading.
1. Cherry-picking Scriptures to use as "proof texts".
We all are guilty of this sometimes. At other times, however, it appears we are doing this because time and/or space does not permit us to quote the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, which may be necessary in order to prove a point. In this email I will try to prove predestination and the bondage of the will.
2. Skewed definition of "free".
Americans are notorious for this.
We define "free" according to our own culture. We think of freedom in terms of absolutes.
Scripture, however, defines "free" quite differently, in relatives and not absolutes. Both Jesus and His apostle, Paul, taught this quite eloquently.
In America, either you are a slave or you're a free man.
In the Bible, either you are a slave to sin, or you're a slave to righteousness. Thus, one who is freed simply changes masters.
In America, a slave is a servant under duress.
In the Bible, a slave is a servant--both by nature and by choice.
Jesus spoke of this in John 8:31-36. The Pharisees didn't understand their own slavery, either--just like we Americans don't understand ours. Actually, the entire chapter is a good read, but specifically, here's that dialog:
31Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Paul likewise said in Romans 6 that we are servants--either of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. See below what Paul, inspired by the Spirit of Christ, said:
16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
As seen in the above two examples and in the whole of Scripture, freedom is relevant. It is not absolute. Logically speaking, Paul stated quite frankly that freedom from one makes us servant to another, because we are dead to the one we are freed from. This is why Paul said we were dead in trespasses and sins before the Holy Spirit regenerated us.
See Ephesians 2:1-5, below:
1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
See also Romans 3:10-18, quoted below:
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17And the way of peace have they not known:
18There is no fear of God before their eyes.
I said before that we choose according to our natures.
According to Scripture, we are all slaves to our natures.
Regeneration changes our nature, so that the choices we make change with the nature.
Before going further, I know that we both know that "Regeneration" is the act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us. This is sometimes called "being born again" (using language from John 3:3-8). Though we know this, however, many of us fail to understand really what happens when we are saved, even after we've been saved for years. All we know from the outset is this:
(1) WE heard the gospel;
(2) WE BELIEVED the gospel;
(3) WE CONFESSED the Lord Jesus; and
(4) WE were saved.
That is all true, but there is a greater truth that brought about that truth.
Let me ask you two questions:
A. Can a dead man choose life?
B. Can nothing choose to be born?
You have to honestly answer "No!, of course not!" to both of those questions.
Nicodemus asked a good question, too (John 3:4): "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Of course, the answer to the second part of his question is "No!" but rather than laughing Nicodemus off, Jesus answered and explained.
For the answers to the questions I just asked you (A and B above) and that Nicodemus asked Jesus, read John 3 (the entire chapter in light of the first 8 verses) slowly, taking in every word of it. God is the Source of all Life. It is HE Who thus gives life to people dead in sin, MAKING them alive and thus willing to repent of the sin and believe the gospel, to choose Him, to confess Him with their mouths unto salvation.
In an earlier email, I cited to you Ezekiel 36:27. Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 provide us a beautiful picture of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. For short, though, see verses 26 and 27 of Ezekiel 36, which say:
26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
See also: "Regeneration--What does it mean to be born again?"--By Wayne A. Grudem. You can find this article at:
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/regeneration_grudem.html
Now, let's deal with the choices we make. I said we choose according to our natures. This is borne out in Scripture. Romans 7 is familiar, and verse 25 sums it up quite well. See it here:
25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Based on a thorough reading of Romans chapters 5 through 8, can you honestly say that our choices are free? Paul lays out here that our very nature controls the choices we make. We choose according to our natures. People who are dead to God make choices in accordance with their nature without regard to God. Believers' choices are more free, but not absolutely free, for we also choose according to our nature. We have been given a new nature when we were given new life in Christ, but our bodies have not yet been taken from the sinful world, so our choices are a struggle. When we choose to obey, we submit to our Lord. When we choose to disobey, we submit to sin. Our choices are not free--they are submissions, either to sin, or to our Lord.
Jesus said that no one CAN come to Him unless the Father Who sent Him draws them (John 6:44). See the context, from John 6, below:
37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
41The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
43Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
46Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Even God chooses according to His nature.
I'll stop on that one here, for that leads into the next point:
3. Skewed understanding of God.
Our theology describes God according to His attributes as we understand Scripture. By no means exhaustive, for God cannot be fully defined in human terms, but among these attributes is His absolute sovereignty. To say He is Lord is to say He is sovereign.
"Sovereign" is defined as:
autonomous, not controlled by outside forces.
independent of all others; supreme in power, rank, or authority.
having supreme authority to make decisions, carry out actions.
The Bible declares that God created everything that is (Genesis 1; John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2).
The Bible declares that God upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3).
The Bible declares that God chooses the recipients of His mercy (Romans 9:18a).
The Bible declares that God chooses the recipients of His wrath (Romans 9:18b).
I do not, and cannot, completely describe God here, but you get the idea. He is the only truly free Being, and even His choices are according to His nature, for He is sovereign. See 1 Timothy 6:15, where the English Standard Version describes God as "the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords" and the King James Version describes God as "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords". "Potentate" is defined as (you're not going to like this) a "dictator--a ruler who is unconstrained by law". See:
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=potentate
We in America live to ourselves. We claim to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are 'the people" so it's proper to say that in America we live to ourselves, by ourselves, and for ourselves. In the beginning, when the nation was first formed, the people understood that we were one nation under God. Now, we as a nation live as practical atheists. This nation has forgotten God. We are legistating according to the lusts of the flesh, and not according to divine law. We have turned our backs on the greatest Law Book ever written for our welfare and well being. God is our Dictator, yes. He dictates for His glory and our good, but people do not regard Him as God, as Good, as Sovereign. Rather, people have made their own gods, made God in their own image. See Romans 1, the entire chapter, especially verses 18 through 32. He did not leave us all there, however.
I take comfort from 1Corinthians 6:9-11 (see):
9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Yes, God is merciful.
This leads into my next point:
4. Skewed understanding of predestination and election.
See Romans 8:28-30:
28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
See also, concerning predestination:
Acts 4:27, "to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur."
1 Cor. 2:7, "but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory."
Eph. 1:5, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,.
Eph. 1:11, "also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will."
We realize that there is debate within Christianity as to the means and purpose of God's election. Some say that God elects individuals and others say He only elects nations and/or groups of people. If God elects individuals this means that God is predestining them, electing them into salvation and He is not electing others. This does not sit well with many Christians.
See, concerning election:
John 13:18, "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’"
Eph. 1:4,"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him."
1 Tim. 5:21, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality."
Dr. Sproul explains well concerning predestination, election, and reprobation. See his essay at:
http://the-highway.com/DoublePredestination_Sproul.html
I quote a paragraph of it here:
"[A] significant difference between the activity of God with respect to the elect and the reprobate concerns God's justice. The decree and fulfillment of election provide mercy for the elect while the efficacy of reprobation provides justice for the reprobate. God shows mercy sovereignly and unconditionally to some, and gives justice to those passed over in election. That is to say, God grants the mercy of election to some and justice to others. No one is the victim of injustice. To fail to receive mercy is not to be treated unjustly. God is under no obligation to grant mercy to all — in fact He is under no obligation to grant mercy to any. He says, "I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy" (Rom. 9). The divine prerogative to grant mercy voluntarily cannot be faulted. If God is required by some cosmic law apart from Himself to be merciful to all men, then we would have to conclude that justice demands mercy. If that is so, then mercy is no longer voluntary, but required. If mercy is required, it is no longer mercy, but justice. What God does not do is sin by visiting injustice upon the reprobate. Only by considering election and reprobation as being asymmetrical in terms of a positive-negative schema can God be exonerated from injustice." (Emphasis mine.)
I will add only that God's justice and His mercy cannot be pitted against each other, for to do so is to break God into pieces. Remember that God is THE Sovereign, THE Potentate, THE Dictator. We live BECAUSE of HIM (Acts 17:28a says "For in him we live, and move, and have our being"). When we state unequivocally, without regard to God's regenerating work, that WE believed and confessed and thus were saved, we take responsibility and credit for our salvation. YES, it was we who did these things, but we were MOVED BY GOD TO do these things. We were GIVEN new life in the Spirit TO do these things. Apart from God, we are NOTHING. We CANNOT save ourselves. Thus, God gets all glory and credit for even our apparent doings. Soli deo gloria! (To the glory of God alone!)
Enough said. Let God be true, but every man a liar (Romans 3:4). This leads to:
5. Skewed understanding of the fall of man and the current condition of sinful man.
God commanded Adam (Genesis 2:16-17), "saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." We know what happened. The serpent deceived Eve, and Adam bit into the deception, believing the lie. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Thus, being "shapen in iniquity" and "conceived in sin" (Psalm 51:5), we are dead in trespasses and sins and continue in that state forever--that is, unless and until God quickens us (makes us alive). See Ephesians 2:1-5:
1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
You get the picture. Until we are born from above, born anew, born again (John 3:1-8), we are walking talking dead people. This necessarily is an act solely of God. We cannot birth ourselves, either naturally or spiritually (John 3:8).
This email [essay here] has come full circle, beginning and ending with the gospel of our Lord according to John's record.
The gospel Paul preached in his letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, and Thessalonica, recorded for us in the Scriptures, is indeed good news! It's good because dead people are made alive by the Sovereign God, the Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, Who created us in His image and, though we messed up, He made us again, re-created us, gave us new life in Christ. We are His work in process (Philippians 1:6), being conformed by Him to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).
What it all boils down to is this:
http://www.the-highway.com/compare.html
After looking at the above comparison of salvation doctrines, which set do you really, honestly, believe is backed by Scripture?
May God bless our reading of His Word and enlighten our understanding by His Spirit.
I like what this Lutheran fellow said:
"What I want to focus on is more the fact that we are dead than anything else. This is a difficult concept to grasp. How are we who are clearly biologically living to be called dead?"
Read what he said at:
http://stanlemon.net/article/901.html
"Confessions of a Young Lutheran".
("Dead People"--by Stan Lemon)
Gratefully His, and yours because of Him,
Cindy =^..^=