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Five
Points of Calvinism (TULIP) - Calvinism
and the Sovereignty of God
Puritan
Hard Drive - Still Waters
Revival Books
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Sovereign Grace |
by Brian Schwertley
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Introduction |
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The modern era is a time of
great theological ignorance, indifference, and declension. Most of the
denominations and churches which are generally referred to as conservative,
Bible-believing and evangelical have in the past few hundred years succumbed
to Arminian1 or semi-Pelagian interpretations of
the doctrine of salvation. The doctrines of sovereign grace which have been
nicknamed "Augustinianism" or "Calvinism"
have been abandoned as obsolete, unfair, unbiblical, and irrational. The
typical evangelical usually hears the name Calvin or the term Calvinism
treated scornfully from the pulpit or at a Bible study. It is even labeled a
dangerous heresy by some. People are falsely told that Calvinism destroys personal
responsibility; that it teaches that people are little better than robots,
etc. |
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The
purpose of this book is to examine the five points of Calvinism in order
to prove that they are thoroughly scriptural and to dispel the common
misconceptions often heard regarding them. This task will involve refuting
some of the typical Arminian doctrines which are so popular today. Many poor
souls have been seduced by Arminianism's appeal to human autonomy. People
need to be made aware that Armianism is a deadly perversion of the gospel
of Christ. It
implicitly denies the sovereignty of God, it perverts the doctrine of
original sin, it turns the doctrine of election upside down and makes the new
birth dependent upon man's will. In the Arminian scheme men are not saved through faith which is a gift of God (Eph.
2:8), but rather because of
faith. Furthermore, Christ's atoning death is not viewed as securing any
person's salvation but merely making salvation possible between God and
sinful man. |
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Many doctrines of the Bible
are intimately related. If a person holds to a deficient view of one
doctrine, it will logically lead to a defective view of other related
doctrines. A doctrine that historically has had a crucial influence upon the
doctrine of salvation is the doctrine of original sin. Original sin refers to
the sinful state and condition into which all men are born as a result of
Adam's sin. The guilt of Adam's sin is imputed to all men, while the
pollution and inner corruption of sin is inherited by ordinary generation.
Professing Christians differ regarding man's state after the fall. These
differences have led to divergent views regarding redemption. Theological
liberals have generally denied the fall and original sin, and thus have
developed a humanistic, moralistic, good works version of Christianity. They
openly deny the biblical doctrine of the vicarious atonement and the
supernatural nature of salvation. Evangelicals and fundamentalists hold to an
Arminian or semi-Pelagian view of the fall. They believe that the whole human
race was in Adam when he fell; that human nature is thus tainted with
hereditary sin and that all men by nature are inclined toward evil. But they
believe that man still has a free will and still has the ability to discern
spiritual truth and believe in Christ without the regenerating power of the
Holy Spirit. They view man as spiritually sick but not dead. Man may need the
help of the Holy Spirit, but it is man's will which controls this help. Man
is said to be the author of faith and repentance. According to this view,
salvation is a cooperative effort between God and man in which man plays the
decisive role. The biblical view (often called Augustinianism or Calvinism)
holds that the fall has not just rendered mankind sick or disabled, but
rather spiritually dead. Men are totally depraved and totally unable to
respond to the gospel without first being regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
Man's will is not free to choose spiritual good, because it is enslaved to a
heart that cannot discern spiritual truth, that hates God and loves sin. This
view holds that salvation is totally a work of God. |
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Adam
was the federal head (or representative) of the human race in the garden of
Eden. When he sinned, the entire human race fell in him. "The consequences
of Adam's sin are all comprehended under the term death, in its widest sense."2 Spiritual and physical death passed to
all men. The guilt of Adam's sin is passed unto all by imputation, and the
pollution (innate hereditary moral depravity) is passed to all men naturally
born of Adam's seed. All men are born sinners by nature. "The
imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. 8:21).
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived
me" (Ps. 51:5). "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go
astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (Ps. 58:3). "That
which is born of flesh is flesh" (Jn. 3:6). "We were by nature the
children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). Contrary to modern evangelicalism, the
Bible teaches that the penalty for sin (spiritual death, etc.) and man's
inherited moral corruption have rendered man totally unable to respond to the
gospel. The Bible, therefore, teaches that salvation is absolutely and solely
a work of God's grace. |
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The fall of man has rendered
man totally depraved. This means that from birth man's heart is morally
corrupt. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Mt.
15:19). The word "heart" in Scripture represents every aspect of
man's nature, including the intellect, will and emotions. Since this inherent
corruption extends to every part of man's nature, it is unbiblical to assert
that the human will is unaffected by the fall. "Man is totally
depraved in the sense
that everything about his nature is in rebellion against God."3 "Then the LORD saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5).
"Sinfulness...describes unregenerate man's rebellious nature....
Everything that unregenerate man does or thinks is undergirded by rebellious
inclinations against God or motivations that are sinful. He is a sinner and
violates God's law because he is bound by that sinful nature inherited from
Adam (Rom. 5:12)."4 "The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately
wicked; who can know
it?" (Jer. 17:9). |
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The
doctrine of total depravity is easily misunderstood. It does not mean that man is as wicked as he could
be. It is obvious that the pagan man who works hard to support his family,
who is faithful to his wife, who obeys the civil laws, etc., is much better
than a hardened criminal or serial murderer. It does not mean that an unsaved man cannot do
good deeds. Jesus Himself acknowledged that evil men could give good gifts to
their children (Mt. 7:11). It does not mean that the image of God in man in the broader sense is
destroyed. Man still has reasoning capabilities and a conscience that
discriminates between good and evil. Man has an active spirit that creates
beautiful works of art, music, architecture, and that makes great strides in
science. "What it does mean is that, since the fall, man rests under the
curse of sin, that he is actuated by wrong principles, and that he is wholly
unable to love God or to do anything meriting salvation."5 "[T]here is no spiritual good,
that is, good in relation to God, in the sinner at all, but only
perversion."6
Custance writes: "The ability of man to do good deeds in no way challenges his
basic depravity. For what is corrupt in human nature is motivation, the
inability of man to be
good."7 A wicked person may go work in a soup
kitchen in order to feel good about himself, but he cannot go even one day
without committing sin, because by nature he is a sinner. |
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What
this inward depravity does is make all unregenerate men hostile to God and
spiritual truth, and in love with sin and self. "Sin, and not
righteousness, has become his natural element so that he has no desire for
salvation."8
Unregenerate men may act very religious and outwardly good, but these actions
do not flow from a true love of God and His glory; they flow from selfish,
evil motives. To the unregenerate man, religion is something to make himself
feel good; or to receive glory from other men. The author of Hebrews says
that "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (11:6). Paul
says "Whatever is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). The proverb
says that even "the plowing of the wicked [is] sin" (Pr. 21:4).
True faith in Christ, which issues forth from a regenerate heart, is the
foundation of genuine virtue. An act which is outwardly good, but done in the
service of self and Satan, cannot please God. "The carnal mind is enmity
against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So
then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8). Paul
describes unregenerate man as continually suppressing the truth about God and
replacing it with various forms of idolatry in order to serve his own sinful
lusts (Rom. 1:18-32). Man is born a covenant breaker with an innate hostility
toward Jehovah. Man has a heart that at every moment suppresses the true
knowledge of God. |
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Total depravity describes man's inherited pollution
from Adam, the inherent corruption that extends to every part of man's
nature. Total inability
refers to the effect of man's inherent corruption on his spiritual powers and
discernment. Berkhof writes: "When we speak of man's corruption as total
inability, we mean two things: (1) that the unrenewed sinner cannot do any
act, however insignificant, which fundamentally meets with God's approval and answers
to the demands of God's holy law; and (2) that he cannot change his
fundamental preference for sin and self to love for God, nor even make an
approach to such a change. In a word, he is unable to do any spiritual
good."9 The Westminster Confession of Faith
describes total inability as follows: "Man, by his fall into a state of
sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying
salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and
dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to
prepare himself thereunto."10 Gordon Clark writes: "…Adam's
ability to will what is good was lost by the fall. From that time on man
could not chose to will 'any spiritual good accompanying salvation.' True, a
man might will to be honest, to support his family, to discharge most of his
obligations as a citizen. In colloquial language these things are called
good. But they are not spiritual goods, and they have nothing to do with
salvation. Furthermore, a man cannot will to be saved. He cannot convert
himself, nor even make preparations for conversion. The simple reason is that
he is dead in sin."11 |
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This
doctrine of total inability plays a crucial role in understanding Christ's
redemption. If men are dead in sin, helpless, and cannot believe in Christ;
then the salvation of sinners of necessity involves much more than Christ
dying for all men and then waiting to see who will accept His gift. If
unsaved men are unable to choose or to will any spiritual good, then apart
from a spiritual rebirth, no man would choose Christ. If the doctrine of
total inability is true, then Christ's death not only removed the guilt of
sin and God's curse against sinners, but also must be the foundation and
guarantee of the application
of His work to specific individuals. The common evangelical's view is that
Christ, by His death, made salvation possible for all men; that forgiveness is there
waiting for men to receive; that the Holy Spirit may gently urge men to
change, but cannot interfere with man's free will. This cannot be true if men
are totally depraved and unable to respond to divine truth. Men don't need a
gentle push; they need a spiritual resurrection, a quickening. It would mean
that God "in his saving operations, deals not generally with mankind at
large, but particularly with the individuals who are actually saved."12 It would mean that regeneration must
precede and not follow saving faith. It would mean that God works directly
upon the human soul in salvation; that Christ is not passively waiting, but
actually saving His people. It would mean that salvation is totally a work of
God–that God receives all the glory; that man contributes nothing of his own
to the process; that even faith and repentance are gifts from above.
Salvation is by sovereign grace. Since the doctrine of total inability is so
important as it relates to other doctrines, one must carefully examine the
scriptural evidence for it. "What saith the scriptures?" (Gal.
4:30, KJV). The evidence is abundant, strong, and clear. |
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The whole faulty system of
salvation as taught by modern evangelicalism rests upon the dogma of
"free will." Arminians argue that man's ability to will spiritual
good and choose spiritual good (Jesus Christ) was left unaffected by the
fall. There is no question that man is free in the sense that he acts as he
pleases. But can the will of man act independently from the human heart?
"Is it an independent, self-determining power?–i.e., does the Will stand
apart from the other great faculties or powers of the soul, a man within a
man, who can reverse
the man and fly against the man and split him into segments, as a glass snake
breaks in pieces? Or, is the Will connected with the other faculties, as the
tail of the serpent is with his body, and that again with his head, so that
where the head goes, the whole creature goes, and, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he?"13 The will of man always acts in
accordance with man's heart or sinful nature. This is the explicit teaching
of Scripture. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings
forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings
forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Lk.
6:45). "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the
issues of life" (Pr. 4:23). "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or
the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do
evil" (Jer. 13:23). "For from within, out of the heart of man,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders..." (Mk. 7:21).
Jesus says that the source of sinful thoughts and acts is the heart and not
the will. In other words, the will simply follows or carries out the desires,
inclinations, habits, etc. of the heart. |
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"Heart" in the Bible refers to the innermost core of man's being.
In includes the whole human nature (i.e., the mind, will, intellect,
emotions, etc.). So, although man is at liberty to choose whatever he
desires, since his heart is evil he will only choose between greater and
lesser evil. Those outwardly good deeds that he does do are not prompted by
love to God and thus are not spiritually good. "Why does the sinner
choose a life of sinful indulgence? Because he prefers it, all arguments to
the contrary notwithstanding, though of course he does not prefer the effects of such a course. And why does he
prefer it? Because his heart
is sinful."14
Boettner writes: "Man is a free agent but he cannot originate the love
of God in his heart. His will is free in the sense that it is not controlled
by any force outside of himself. As the bird with a broken wing is 'free' to
fly but not able, so the natural man is free to come to God but not able. How
can he repent of his sin when he loves it? How can he come to God when he
hates Him? This is the inability of the will under which man labors."15 |
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Although man is spiritually impotent he is still responsible for his actions.
Man rendered himself unable in the garden; he is not coerced by outside
forces. Man freely sins and loves it. His will is in bondage to his wicked
heart. "He cannot renew his own will, change his own heart, nor
regenerate his bad nature."16 He is helpless and hopeless apart from
a sovereign work of grace upon his heart by God the Holy Spirit. This
doctrine of total inability explains why the Bible (unlike modern
evangelicalism) never attributes salvation to an act of the human will.
"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who
shows mercy" (Rom. 9:16). "Who were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn. 1:13).
"You did not choose me, but I chose you" (Jn. 15:16). "Why do
you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word.
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to
do" (Jn. 8:43-44). When Jesus said, "Without Me you can do
nothing" (Jn. 15:5), He really meant nothing. Luther writes: "It is
totally unheard of–grammar and logic to say that nothing is the same as something; to logicians, the thing is an
impossibility, for the two are contradictory!"17 |
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Total
inability and the bondage of the will are taught throughout Scripture. What
follows is a summary of the biblical teaching regarding the state of fallen, unregenerate man: |
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"And you He made alive,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we
[Christians] all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the
children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because
of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved)" (Eph. 2:1-5). Because of man's fall into sin, men are dead.
Unregenerate man can no more choose Christ or see spiritual truth than a
rotting corpse can play tennis or debate philosophy. There is no middle
ground between being alive and being dead. Unregenerate men are not just
sick, handicapped or impaired but dead. The biblical view of the unregenerate
is totally at odds with most fundamentalist pastors and teachers who teach
that unregenerate man has the ability to choose Christ. "You may use all
human persuasion possible, but you cannot give spiritual life where death
reigns. God alone, by a creative act, can bring life out of death. Spiritual
arguments to an unregenerate man are only warm clothes to a corpse."18 "If a man is dead spiritually,
therefore, it is surely equally as evident that he is unable to perform any
spiritual actions, and thus the doctrine of man's moral [or spiritual]
inability rests upon strong Scriptural evidence."19 |
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When
Paul compares the mind of believers with the unregenerate he states
unequivocally that unbelievers cannot even do one thing that pleases God. "For those who
live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot
please God" (Rom. 8:5-8) The carnal mind has no ability to change
itself. Luther writes: "Let the guardian of 'free will' answer the
following question: How can endeavours towards good be made by that which is
death, and displeases God, and is enmity against God, and disobeys God, and
cannot obey him?"20 Murray writes: "Here we have
nothing less than the doctrine of the total inability to be well-pleasing to
God or to do what is well-pleasing in his sight. In the whole passage we have
the biblical basis for the doctrines of total depravity and total inability.
It should be recognized, therefore, that resistance to these doctrines must
come to terms not simply with the present day proponents of these doctrines
but with the apostle himself. 'Enmity against God' is nothing other than
total depravity and 'cannot please God' nothing less than total
inability."21 |
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"Can the Ethiopian change
his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also do good who are
accustomed to do evil" (Jer. 13:23). "They are spots and blemishes,
carousing in their own deceptions...having eyes full of adultery and that
cannot cease from sin.... It has happened to them according to the true
proverb: 'A dog returns to his own vomit,' and, 'a sow, having washed, to her
wallowing in the mire'" (2 Pet. 2:13-14, 22). "For to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God,
nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please
God" (Rom. 8:6-8). Without the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit
applied to a man's heart, no one would ever believe in Christ and repent.
Genuine repentance is the fruit of a regenerate heart. "They glorified
God, saying, 'Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to
life'" (Ac. 11:18). |
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"The LORD looks down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who
seek God. They have all turned aside, they have all together become corrupt;
there is none who does good, no not one" (Ps. 14:2-3). "There is
none who understands; there is none who seeks after God" (Rom. 3:11). Why
is it that not even one man seeks after God? It is because men cannot seek God. Luther writes: "Do we
not know what it means to be ignorant of God, not to understand, not to seek
God, not to fear God, to go out of the way and to be unprofitable? Are not
the words perfectly clear? and do they not teach that all men are ignorant of
God and despise God, and moreover go out of the way after evil, and are
unprofitable for good? Paul is not here speaking of ignorance in seeking
food, or of contempt for money, but of ignorance and contempt of religion and
godliness."22
The idea that unregenerate men are objectively examining different philosophies and
religions in search of the truth is totally false. Unregenerate men turn to
false religions, philosophies and ideologies to escape reality, to escape
from the true God (Rom. 1:21-28). Those who seek God do so only because God
first sought them out and changed their stony hearts into hearts of flesh:
"I [God] was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to
those who did not ask for Me" (Rom. 10:20, cf. Isa. 65:1). |
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"Jesus answered and said
to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot
see [comprehend, perceive] the kingdom of God'" (Jn. 3:3) "But the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14). The unregenerate man can study the Bible and
learn what it teaches regarding history and God's way of salvation. He may
even teach a course on the Bible as literature at a major university. But to
him the Bible is mythological nonsense; it is foolishness. Apart from the
regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, people are completely incapable of
discerning spiritual truth: "The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile. Therefore let no one boast in men" (1 Cor.
3:20-21). |
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"But even if our gospel
is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of
this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them" (2 Cor.
4:3-4). "I [Jesus Christ] will deliver you [the Apostle Paul] from the
Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open
their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:17-18).
"Man is loyal to the god of darkness and loves darkness rather than the
Light. His will is, therefore, not at all 'free.' It is bound by the flesh to
the prince of darkness."23 Men who have "been taken captive
by [Satan] to do his will" (2 Tim. 2:26) can only be set free by someone
stronger than Satan–Jesus Christ and His Spirit (Mt. 12:29). |
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"In Him [Jesus Christ]
was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (Jn. 1:4-5). "And
this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone
practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his
deeds should be exposed" (Jn. 3:19-20). "They...became futile in
their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.... God gave them over
to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting" (Rom. 1:21,
28). Pure darkness is the absence of all light. Those who are not born again
dwell in spiritual darkness. How can those who are in total darkness, who hate
the light, choose or cooperate with light? The unregenerate will not choose
the light because he cannot choose the light. It is impossible with man.
"Non-existent spiritual life cannot give being to itself. Light is not
brought out of darkness, neither does love come from hate. Every seed bears
its own kind. 'That which is of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit' (Jn. 3:6). A new creature, therefore, cannot be the
product of natural power."24 |
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"Keep on hearing, but do
not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this
people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and
return and be healed" (Isa. 6:9-10; cf. Mk. 4:12, Lk. 8:10). "Why
do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My
word. You are of your father the devil.... He who is of God hears God's
words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God" (Jn.
8:43-44, 47). The preaching of the gospel is useless to the deaf. The written
word is of no effect to the blind. Only God can open blind eyes and deaf
ears. "The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them
both" (Pr. 20:12). |
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"For when we were still
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6).
"And when I [God] passed you by and saw you struggling in your own
blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood,
'Live!'" (Ezek. 16:6). |
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"You stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears!" (Acts 7:51). "Thus says the Lord
GOD: 'No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall
enter My sanctuary'" (Ezek. 44:9). "Then I will give them one
heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out
of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 11:19). "I
will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of
flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). An uncircumcised heart is a heart still enslaved
to the filth and pollution of the flesh. A heart of stone is totally
unresponsive to spiritual truth. An unregenerate man will no more respond to
the gospel than will a rock. Regeneration is absolutely essential if fallen
man is to believe. |
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One often hears sermons in
fundamentalist churches in which people are told that "Christ did
everything He is going to do to save you; now it is up to you to do your
part." Salvation is viewed as a cup of medicine that is of no use
whatever until a man accepts the cup and drinks it. The idea that Christ can
or will save only those who of their own "free will" are willing to
accept Him completely contradicts what the Bible says about the effect of
total depravity upon the human race. All men are dead spiritually (Eph.
2:1-5), hate the truth, hate Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:19-21), dwell in darkness
(Jn. 1:4-5), have a heart of stone (Ezek. 11:19), are helpless (Ezek.
16:4-6), cannot repent (Jer. 13:23), are slaves of Satan (Ac. 26:17-18), and
cannot see or comprehend divine truth (1 Cor. 2:14). This teaching is
offensive to the natural man but unavoidable unless one is willing to abandon
the word of God. |
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The
doctrine of total depravity is important, for when it is properly understood,
it proves that salvation is totally of God's grace. Those who reject this
doctrine and teach that the human will is the sole determining factor between
who is and who is not saved have abandoned the biblical doctrine of
salvation. Speaking of W. E. Henley, B. B. Warfield writes:
" 'When one says,' he tells us, ' "I believe in God, the
Father Almighty," he means it with reserve for in the domain of man's
moral choices under grace, man himself is almighty, according to God's
self-limitation in making man in his image and after his likeness.' God
himself, he goes on to declare, has a creed which begins: 'I believe in man,
almighty in his choices.' "25 |
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Arminians believe that God has provided forgiveness in Christ and now is
waiting for men to appropriate the redemption provided. It is as though there
is a pot of gold sitting there waiting for man to discover it and take it.
This view, which makes salvation a cooperative effort between God and man
(synergism), is not
grace as biblically defined. The moment man contributes something of his own
to salvation, even if it is just one act of the will, grace is no more grace.
Luther writes: "Granted that your friends assign to 'free will as little
as possible', nonetheless they teach us that by that little we can attain
righteousness and grace; and they solve the problem as to why God justifies
one and abandons another simply by presupposing 'free-will', and saying: 'the
one endeavoured and the other did not; and God regards the one for his
endeavour and despises the other; and He would be unjust were He to do
anything else!… They [the guardians of 'free will'] do not believe that He
intercedes before God and obtains grace for them by His blood, and 'grace'
(as is here said) 'for grace'. And as they believe, so it is unto them.
Christ is in truth an inexorable judge to them, and deservedly so; for they
abandon Him in His office as a Mediator and kindest Saviour, and account His
blood and grace as of less worth than the efforts and endeavours of
'free-will'!"26 Arminianism is the first cousin to
Romanism. It is a damnable heresy. If one man had the wisdom and will to
choose Christ while his neighbor did not, then he has reason to boast. But if
men are dead in trespasses and sins and totally unable to respond to Christ
until He raises them from the dead through regeneration, then there is no reason
for a man to boast. God receives all the glory. "Just as Lazarus would
never have heard the voice of Jesus, nor would he have ever 'come to Jesus,'
without first being given life by our Lord, so all men 'dead in trespasses
and sins' must first be given life by God before they can 'come to Christ.'
Since dead men cannot will
to receive life, but can be raised from the dead only by the power of God, so
the natural man cannot of his own (mythical) 'free will' will to have eternal life (cf. John
10:26-28)."27
The gospel really is
good news. Jesus Christ actually saves sinners. |
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The Bible clearly teaches that
God chose a people for Himself before the foundation of the world.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as
sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His
will" (Eph. 1:3-5). When the Bible discusses the predestination of those
who are in Christ it speaks of the doctrine of election. The
"elect" are those chosen by God. The verb "to elect"
simply means to choose. The doctrine of election refers to "that eternal
act of God whereby He, in His sovereign good pleasure, and on account of no
foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be the recipients
of special grace and of eternal salvation."28 In order to emphasize the fact that
God's election or choice of certain sinners to be saved is not based upon anything that the sinner
himself does, Reformed theologians refer to election to eternal life as unconditional election. |
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Virtually all modern
evangelicals and fundamentalists emphatically reject the biblical doctrine of
unconditional election. They teach that election is based not solely upon
God's choice or good pleasure but upon God's foreknowledge of man's exercise
of faith. In other words, before God created the world, He looked down the
corridors of time and observed all those who exercised faith in Christ and
then chose them. "Arminians, broadly speaking, hold that election is
based upon God's foreknowledge of who will actively co-operate with God in the saving of his own soul.
Lutherans hold that it is based upon God's foreknowledge of who will not
resist his invitation
to accept salvation as an outright gift. Wesleyans believe that it is based
upon God's foreknowledge of who will persevere to the end."29 |
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The
view that God only chooses those who first elect Him by making a decision for
Christ is based on Romans 8:29: "For whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren." The Arminian or semi-Pelagian
understands the word foreknow simply to mean an intellectual knowledge of
something before it happens. Thus they argue that God knew beforehand who
would believe and repent and then elected them. There are a number of reasons
why the Arminian understanding of Romans 8:29 is unscriptural and impossible. |
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1.
The first reason that the Arminian understanding of Romans 8:29 is
unscriptural is the fact that "foreknow" in this passage does not
simply mean to know an event before it happens. Paul uses
"foreknow" in the Old Testament Hebraistic sense of to love beforehand. John Murray writes: "Although
the term 'foreknow' is used seldom in the New Testament, it is altogether
indefensible to ignore the meaning so frequently given to the word 'know' in
the usage of Scripture; 'foreknow' merely adds the thought of 'beforehand' to
the word 'know.' Many times in Scripture 'know' has a pregnant meaning which
goes beyond that of mere cognition. It is used in a sense practically
synonymous with 'love,' to set regard upon, to know with peculiar interest,
delight, affection, and action (cf. Gen. 18:19; Exod. 2:25; Psalm 1:6; 144:3;
Jer. 1:5; Amos 3:2; Hosea 13:5; Matt. 7:23; 1 Cor. 8:3; Gal. 4:9; 2 Tim.
2:19; 1 John 3:1).... It means 'whom he set regard upon' or 'whom he knew
from eternity with distinguishing affection and delight' and is virtually
equivalent to 'whom he foreloved.'"30 God's electing love originates from
Himself and not out of a foreseen faith or repentance. Therefore, when the
Bible discusses election, it always grounds it in God and not sinful,
depraved humanity. Election is "according to His good pleasure"
(Eph. 1:9). It is "after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). |
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2.
The Arminian interpolation receives its death blow from the immediate context
of Romans 8:29. Arminians argue that predestination is based on a foreseen
faith and thus that man is ultimately sovereign in salvation. God decides
what He will do on the basis of what man first decides to do. Since,
according to the Arminian, man is sovereign over his own salvation, the
Arminian logically concludes that man can also reject God at any time and
lose his salvation. But Romans 8:30 ff. shows that God's love is not a
passive, waiting, helpless love but a sovereign, active love–a love that
nothing can impede, stop, or override. "Moreover whom He predestined,
these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He
justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who
justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is
also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it
is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom.
8:30-39). |
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The
interpretation that foreknowledge is merely a recognition that certain people
will exercise faith some time in the future; a faith that is solely dependent
on man and that can fail at any time simply contradicts Paul's emphasis on
God's determinative action in salvation. Paul presents a chain of events, all
of which are dependent solely upon God. Paul is teaching a monergistic
doctrine of salvation. That salvation depends solely upon divine choice and
action. Paul emphasizes that God is the one who predestinates, calls,
justifies, and then glorifies. Furthermore, it is Christ who achieved an
objective, perfect redemption; who intercedes at the right hand of God for
His people (v. 34). The three actions (called, justified, and glorified)
which inevitably flow from God's eternal counsel cannot be separated.
"The future glorification of the believer is designated by the aorist,
as his justification, calling, predestination, and election have been;
because all these divine acts are eternal, and therefore simultaneous for the
divine mind. All are equally certain."31 Paul emphasizes that salvation is certain for the elect because "God is for
us" (v. 7). |
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Salvation is guaranteed by God's electing love and predestinating power. Such
a doctrine is totally incompatible with the idea that everything boils down
to the "free" choice of people who are "dead in trespasses and
sins" (Eph. 2:1); who could lose their faith and salvation at any
moment. Since it is God alone who saves, Paul can affirm that nothing created can separate the elect from
God's love (v. 39). Nothing created–not even man's will–has veto power over
the elect's final salvation. "He has shown how the present pilgrimage of
the people of God falls into its place in that determinate and undefeatable
plan of God that is bounded by two foci, the sovereign love of God in his
eternal counsel and glorification with Christ in the age to come."32 Girardeau writes: "Whatsoever,
then, may be, according to the Arminian view, the love of God towards his
saints, it is a love which does not secure their salvation: it is not a saving
love. It is not equal to the love which a mother cherishes for her child. She
would save him if she could. This reputed divine love may be called a special
love, but it is not the love for his saints which the Scriptures assign to
God. The idea of it was not born of inspiration: God never claimed such love
as his own."33 "What God is assuring his
children in Romans 8:29 is not that He has foreseen our favourable response
to his call when the time comes and has therefore decided that we shall duly
be conformed to the image of his Son. It is rather that he loved us in
anticipation and determined, for reasons entirely hidden from us, that we
should be conformed to the image of his Son by an act of his sovereign
grace."34
Therefore, Christians can be "confident of this very thing, that He who
has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus
Christ" (Phil. 1:6). |
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3.
The Arminian interpretation of Romans 8:29 would place a blatant contradiction
within Scripture. It would contradict the biblical teaching with regard to
man's state after the fall. The Bible teaches that unsaved, unregenerate men
hate both Christ and the truth (Jn. 3:19-21). Unregenerate fallen man: dwells
in darkness (Jn. 1:4-5); is dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1-5); has a heart of
stone which is unable to respond to divine truth (Ezek. 11:19); is helpless
(Ezek. 16:4-6); is unable to repent (Jer. 13:23); is enslaved to Satan (Ac.
26:17-18); and is unable to see or comprehend divine truth (1 Cor. 2:14).
Unconditional election is the logical corollary to total depravity. Thus
Jesus Christ taught: "No one
can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.... No one can come to Me unless it has been
granted to him by My Father" (Jn.. 6:44, 65). An unregenerate man can no
more choose Christ as Savior than can a rotting corpse. |
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Since
the Bible teaches that the fall has rendered man incapable of believing in
Christ and repenting, the idea that God looked through time and chose those
who first chose him is absurd and impossible. That is why the Bible teaches
that faith and repentance are gifts from God (cf. Jn. 3:3-8; 6:44-45, 65;
Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; 2 Pet. 1:2). "For unless God by sovereign,
operative grace had turned our enmity to love and our disbelief to faith we
would never yield the response of faith and love."35 Furthermore, the biblical passages
which teach unconditional election are clear and abundant. |
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Acts 13:48. "Now when the Gentiles heard
this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had
been appointed to eternal life believed." Here is the explicit statement
of the doctrine of election by Luke. The Greek word tetagmenoi, which is translated as ordained (KJV,
ASV, RSV), appointed (NKJV, NASB, Berkeley) and destined (JB) is the passive
form of the verb tasso
which (as might be expected) means to ordain, or to appoint. The fact that
the verb is passive indicates that these people did not ordain themselves but
were chosen by an outside agent–God the Father. These people believed in
Christ because God first
appointed them to eternal life. Luke, by the Holy Spirit, is stating in
unambiguous terms why some people believe and others disbelieve. The
difference is not
that some people are smarter, wiser, or more holy than others, but that God
has chosen or ordained some to life and passed by the rest. "[A] Divine
ordination to eternal life is the cause, not the effect, of any man's
believing."36
"Those believed to whom God gave grace to believe, whom by a secret and
mighty operation he brought in subjection to the gospel of Christ.... Those
came to Christ whom the Father drew, and to whom the Spirit made the gospel
call effectual."37 |
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Those
who strongly disagree with predestination have approached this passage in
different ways in order to avoid its plain meaning. One method is to simply
twist the meaning of the Greek language to fit one's own unbiblical
presuppositions regarding election. Thus the Living Bible translates Acts
13:48b as follows: "...and as many as wanted eternal life,
believed." Likewise, the old heretic Socinius invented his own Greek
grammar to have the passage say, "...as many as believed, were ordained
to eternal life." A more sophisticated method is to argue that the verb
is not passive but middle: "...as many as were disposed were ordained to
eternal life." Such a translation, however, ignores the teaching of the
entire New Testament that God
ordains or predestinates and not man (cf. Rom. 8:28-29; 9:11; Eph. 1:4; 1
Tim. 1:9; 1 Cor. 1:26-29, etc.). "Moreover, the phrase of being disposed
unto, or for
eternal life, is a
very unusual, if not a very improper, and an inaccurate one; men are said to
be disposed to an habit, or to an act, as to vice or virtue, but not to
reward or punishment."38 "[W]henever this verb occurs
elsewhere, it invariably expresses the exertion of power or authority, divine
or human, and being in the passive voice, cannot denote mere disposition,
much less self-determination, any more than the form used in 2, 40
above...."39
Thus it is no wonder that all the ancient versions (including the Latin
Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic) as well as virtually all modern translations
(Living Bible excepted) translate tetamenoi as the passive: "were ordained, or
appointed." Spurgeon writes, "Attempts have been made to prove that
these words do not teach predestination, but these attempts so clearly do
violence to language that I shall not waste time in answering them. I read,
'As many as were ordained to eternal life believed' and I shall not twist the
text but shall glorify the grace of God by ascribing to that grace the faith
of every man. Is it not God who gives the disposition to believe? If men are
disposed to have eternal life, does not He–in every case–dispose them? Is it
wrong for God to give grace? If it be right for Him to give it–is it wrong
for Him to purpose to give it? Would you have Him give it by accident? If it
is right for Him to purpose to give grace to-day, it was right for Him to
purpose it before today–and, since He changes not–from eternity."40 |
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If
one has ever wondered why some people become Christians and others continue
in darkness, he need only read Romans 9:6-24. Paul argues that the reason
some are saved and others are damned is that God so willed it. Paul says that
God ultimately decides who receives mercy. Election reflects God's will and
purpose: "it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God
who shows mercy" (Rom. 9:16). |
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In
order to emphasize God's sovereignty over salvation (out of the whole Old
Testament), Paul chooses the twin brothers Jacob and Esau as a case study in
divine election. Paul sets out to prove that election to salvation flows
solely from God's will and purpose; that one's blood line, parentage,
upbringing, actions, or human choice have nothing to do with election. Note that Jacob
and Esau were twins. They were conceived at the same moment and born only
minutes apart. Unlike the case of Isaac and Ishmael who had different
mothers, one being an Egyptian slave (Hagar), Jacob and Esau had the same
mother, Rebekah. Both were covenant children born of the patriarch Isaac.
Their conception was a miraculous answer to prayer (Gen. 25:21). From a human
standpoint, if anyone had the advantage it was Esau who was the first born
(Gen. 25:25) and favored by Isaac his father (Gen. 25:28). Furthermore, in
order to make it absolutely clear that election has nothing to do with human
merit or choice, Paul says that God chose one to salvation (Jacob) and one to
reprobation (Esau) before they were even born; before either had done good or
evil. Why is it that some people believe in Christ and others do not? Because
God has mercy on some and others He hardens (Rom. 9:18). Ultimately God makes
the difference. Paul reasons as "plainly as language can express the
idea, the ground of the choice is not in those chosen, but in God who
chooses."41 |
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There
are a number of objections that have been raised against the doctrine of
unconditional election as taught by Paul in Romans 9. First, it is said that
when the passage says God hated Esau, it really means that God loved him less
than He loved Jacob. Although the word hate can sometimes be used in
Scripture to mean to love less (e.g., Lk. 14:26), the context of the passage
quoted by Paul (Mal. 1:2-3) and Romans 9 itself indicate that in this
instance hate does not
mean to love less. "The context of Mal. 1:2-3 is one of judgment,
punishment, indignation: '...Esau have I hated, and made his mountains a
desolation.... They will build, but I will throw down.'"42 If Paul meant to love less, then why
compare Esau to Pharaoh, whom God destroyed? God killed Pharaoh's firstborn
son and then drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea. If a person slit the throat of
your firstborn son and then drowned you in the backyard swimming pool, would
you regard that person as loving you less? Also, why would Paul explain what
he meant by saying that those hated beforehand are "vessels of wrath
prepared for destruction" (v. 22). They are lumps formed by God for
dishonor (v. 21). It is obvious that hate in Rom. 9:13 does not mean and
cannot mean to love less. |
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Another objection is that Paul is not really referring to individual
election, but the election of nations. Were not Jacob and Esau both the
father of nations? Indeed they were. But the context of the passage indicates
that here Paul is not at all concerned with collective or national election,
but is explaining why "they are not all Israel, who are of Israel"
(Rom. 9:6). Paul is explaining the distinction between Israel and true Israel. He wants his reader to
understand why so many within the elect nation do not believe. This brings
Paul to a lengthy discussion of individual election so that all may
understand: they are not all elect (individually), who are of elect Israel
(nationally). Furthermore, according to the Arminian conception of justice
and fairness "is it not equally unjust of God to choose one nation and
leave another? The argument which they imagine overthrows us overthrows them
also. There never was a more foolish subterfuge than that of trying to bring
out national election. What is the election of a nation, but the election of
so many units, of so many people?–and it is tantamount to the same thing as
the particular election of individuals. In thinking, men cannot see clearly
that if–which we do not for a moment believe–there be any injustice in God
choosing one man and not another, how much more must there be injustice in
choosing one nation and not another. No! The difficulty cannot be got rid of
thus, but is greatly increased by this foolish wresting of God's Word."43 |
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The
most common objection is: "That's not fair!" Paul himself
anticipates such a response in verse 14: "What shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God?" Many people think that the doctrine of
predestination, where God foreordains some to salvation and others to
destruction before they are even born, is unjust. Although such a response
may be natural for the unregenerate and those ignorant of theology, it should
never be the response of a Christian. Paul, after posing the question, says,
"Certainly not!" (v. 14). Furthermore: "It is not for their
being passed by that they are punished, but for their sins. Their being
passed by is a sovereign act: their condemnation is a judicial act of God in
His capacity as a Judge. 'Salvation is all of grace; damnation all of sin. Salvation [is] of God from first to
last–the Alpha and the Omega; but damnation [is] of men not of God: and if
you perish at your own hands must your blood be required' (C. H.
Spurgeon)."44 |
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A
fatal problem with the objection that predestination or unconditional
election makes God unjust is the simple fact that all human beings because of
the sin of Adam and their own sins deserve eternal damnation. "There is none
righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who
seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; They have together become
unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10-13).
God could justly send every human being to hell. He is not obligated to save
anyone. If God had not (because of His love) elected some to life and sent
His only begotten Son to die, no one would go to heaven. "Shall we not fix it once for
all in our minds that salvation is the right of no man; that a 'chance' to
save himself is no 'chance' of salvation for any; and that, if any of the
sinful race of man is saved, it must be by a miracle of almighty grace, on
which he has no claim, and, contemplating which as a fact, he can only be
filled with wondering adoration of the marvels of the inexplicable love of
God? To demand that all criminals shall be given a 'chance' of escaping their
penalties, and that all shall be given an 'equal chance,' is simply to mock
at the very idea of justice, and no less, at the very idea of love."45 This explains why election is always
presented in Scripture as according to God's will and purpose and not man's merit. |
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Paul
goes on to quote Exodus 33:19 in response. The key to understanding election
for Paul is God's mercy. "For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on
whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will
have compassion" (Rom. 9:15). What is mercy? Mercy is the unmerited or
undeserved favor of God. "Compassion has to do with recognizing the poor
or helpless state of a person and stooping to help that person. Mercy does
the same, but its unique quality is that it is shown to people not only who
do not deserve it, but who in fact deserve the opposite. In this case, mercy
describes the giving of salvation to people who actually deserve to
perish."46 |
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The
Arminian thinks he is avoiding the common objection of unfairness by making
the ultimate cause of election man's choice of Christ. However, this supposed
solution to the question of fairness does not really address the
"problem." The Bible clearly teaches that no one can be saved apart
from Christ (Acts 4:12; Jn. 14:6; 15:5; 1 Jn. 5:12; Rom. 10:13). Yet
throughout the history of mankind, very few people have had the opportunity
to hear the gospel. If God was trying to meet this human, unscriptural
standard of justice that undergirds Arminianism, would He not give every
person in history an opportunity to hear the gospel? Yet, the biblical
account shows that God in the Old Covenant era focused His attention on a
tiny nation in Palestine while the rest of the world was left in complete
ignorance and darkness. And even in the New Covenant era, when God is
gathering His elect from every nation, the vast majority of people have not
heard the gospel. Paul was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel
in Asia, but rather was directed in a vision to go to Europe (Macedonia; cf.
Ac. 16:6). God excluded some and focused on others. "It was the
sovereign choice of God which brought the Gospel to the people of Europe and
later to America, while the people of the east, and north, and south were
left in darkness."47 |
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Also
consider that God is in total control of when and where each person is born,
yet some individuals are born into households where they are taught false
religions and philosophies while others are born into Christian households
where they hear the gospel throughout childhood. One child is born in poverty
to wicked parents who worship idols, and another is born into a middle-class
Christian family where Christ is taught, honored, and worshipped daily. The
Bible teaches that God has the power to open and close the womb (cf. Gen.
30:2-3). God could (if He wanted to meet the Arminian standard of fairness)
only allow children to be born into godly Christian households. Furthermore, some
are born more intelligent, trusting, kind, etc., than others. If God's
elective choice is dependent upon the foreseen faith of man, as the Arminian
asserts, then election is unjust,
because all men are not born into equal circumstances and all are not born
with equal intellectual capabilities. |
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The
doctrine of unconditional
election is the only view of election which is just. The whole human race is
dead in trespasses and sins, and under the just sentence of eternal
damnation. But God, who is merciful, chooses "according to the good
pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1:5) to save some. None are deserving. None
are spiritually able. None have a spiritual advantage. They all are at the
same point. Then apart from anything in them God saves some and passes by others.
This is exactly what Paul is saying when sinful, guilty humanity is compared
to the "same lump." "Does not the potter have power over the
clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for
dishonor?" (Rom. 9:21) "This scripture evidences that there is 'no
difference,' in themselves, between the elect and the non-elect: they are all
clay of 'the same lump,' which agrees with Eph. 2:3, where we are told, that
all are by nature
children of wrath."48 "The main idea Paul is putting
across is this: if even a potter has the right out of the same lump or mass
of clay to make one vessel for honor, and another for dishonor, then
certainly God, our Maker, has the right, out of the same mass of human beings
who by their own guilt have plunged themselves into the pit of misery, to
elect some to everlasting life, and to allow others to remain in the abyss of
wretchedness."49 |
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Another fatal problem for the Arminian view of election as taught in Romans 9
is that if Paul is teaching that election is based not on God's will, but
human choice, the hypothetical objections that Paul raises to the doctrine
don't make any sense. If Esau was not elected because he did not exercise
faith, why would anyone accuse God of injustice? The Arminian teaches that
ultimately God had nothing to do with it. The objection raised in verse 19
("You say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who has
resisted His will?'") is obviously made against predestination. If (as
Arminians erroneously assert) God cannot violate man's free will, and
salvation is merely a possibility which man sovereignly appropriates, why an
objection against God's absolute control of salvation and reprobation?
Furthermore, the illustration developed above regarding the potter fashioning
the clay solely as he pleases is also totally out of place. Unconditional
election is a hated doctrine by most professing Christians today. Yet, the
apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, championed the doctrine and taught
it with such clarity that one can only wonder how those who profess belief in
the Bible can deny it. |
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It is
truly sad that so many who profess the name of Christ hate the doctrine of
unconditional election, for it is the heart of biblical religion and a
God-glorifying doctrine. What is more fundamental to biblical truth than the
fact that salvation is a gift from God? "For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not
of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them"
(Eph. 2:8-10). Those who hate the doctrine in reality hate God's sovereign
grace. They would ignore the doctrine if they could, but since it is taught
so clearly and often in the New Testament, they have no choice but to attempt
to explain it away. Their main attempt–the idea that election is based on a
foreseen faith–turns election into its very opposite: God does not elect man,
but rather man elects God. Furthermore, predestination in such a scheme is really
a postdestination.
The Arminian viewpoint is unbiblical and illogical for it makes the eternal
counsel and choice of God contingent upon the choice of men who are
spiritually dead and unable to choose Christ (apart from regeneration) and
who do not even exist yet! The Arminian scheme has temporal events
controlling and conditioning the eternal, unchanging will of God. In other
words, the clay has control over the potter. The Arminian, by taking election
out of God's hands and placing it in the hands of depraved man, has destroyed
salvation by grace alone and replaced it with a humanistic synergism. Christ
testified against such Scripture twisting when He said to His disciples:
"You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (Jn. 15:16).
Arminianism is unscriptural, irrational, and takes the glory due to God alone
and bestows it upon sinful man. |
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Some
attempt to avoid the plain meaning of this passage by asserting that God has
elected all men.
Such a view is mistaken for three reasons. First, the whole idea of election
presupposes that some are chosen and others are not. If election applies to
every human being, it is meaningless. Second, the eternal election of some by
the Father is "in Christ." Election cannot be separated from union
with Christ. "[B]efore the foundation of the world, Christ was the
Representative and Surety of all those who in time would be gathered into the
fold."51
Election is in Christ because those chosen were "dead in trespasses and
sins" (Eph. 2:1), "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3), and
deserving (apart from Christ) eternal damnation. Christ, the covenant head of
the elect, promised the Father before the foundation of the world to fulfill
the law and die a sacrificial death for His people, the elect. "This is
the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day" (Jn. 6:39). "I
pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given
Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours and Yours are Mine, and I am
glorified in them" (Jn. 17:9-10). Third, the purpose of election is in
order "that we should be holy and without blame" (v. 4). Girardeau
writes: "The testimony in Eph. i. 4 is indisputable. Arminians are
compelled to evade it. For example, Wesley says upon the text:
' "As he hath chosen us"–both Jews and Gentiles, whom he
foreknew as believing in Christ.' That is, he chose us because he foreknew
that we would be holy. But Paul says just the opposite: he chose us that we
should be holy. So clear is the affirmation that holiness is the effect of
election, that even Meyer and Ellicott both acknowledge that the Greek
infinitive rendered 'that we should be' is one of intention–in order that we should be holy."52 Election does not open the possibility of salvation, but guarantees its actual accomplishment. As in
Romans 8, election, justification and glorification cannot be separated.
"[E]lection does not carry man half-way only; it carries him all the
way. It does not merely bring him to conversion; it brings him to perfection.
It purposes to make him holy–that
is cleansed from all sin and separated entirely to God and to his service–and
faultless–that is, without any blemish whatever (Phil. 2:15), like a perfect
sacrifice."53
Thus, if God elected all men in Christ, then one would have to argue that all
men will actually be saved. |
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The doctrine of unconditional
election is foundational to biblical Christianity for it places the salvation
of men squarely in the hands of God. "Salvation is of the LORD"
(Jon. 2:9). Men are saved solely
by God's grace. Calvin writes: "We shall never be clearly persuaded, as
we ought to be, that our salvation flows from the wellspring of God's free
mercy until we come to know his eternal election, which illumines God's grace
by this contrast; that he does not indiscriminately adopt all into the hope
of salvation but gives to some what he denies to others. How much the
ignorance of this principle detracts from God's glory, how much it takes away
from true humility, is well known…. If–to make it clear that our salvation
comes about solely from God's mere generosity–we must be called back to the
course of election.…54 |
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A doctrinal issue which is
crucial to our understanding of God's nature (i.e., His sovereignty) and the
gospel is the extent of Christ's atoning death on the cross.55 There are three different views
current among professing Christians today: universalism, inconsistent
universalism, and particularism. Universalists believe that Christ died for
every individual (without exception) who ever lived. They believe that God
intended to save every man by the death of Christ, and that since Christ died
for everyone, everyone will without exception be saved. Although this view is
logically consistent, it is obviously unscriptural. The Bible teaches that many people
will go to hell (Mt. 7:13). Universalism is the dominant view among
theological liberals, but since it is rare among evangelicals, our attention
will be directed to the two remaining positions. Inconsistent universalism
holds that Christ died for all men without exception, but that only some of those for whom Christ died actually
will be saved. The rest will go to hell. This view is held by virtually all
so-called fundamentalists and evangelicals today. Inconsistent universalists
(i.e., Arminians) believe that Christ's meritorious work did not actually
secure the salvation of any man, but merely made salvation a possibility for
all men. Those who hold to a particular atonement (i.e., Calvinists) teach
that Christ died for the elect only. Christ's atoning death definitely
secured the salvation of those for whom He died. The doctrine that Christ
died only for some is very unpopular today; therefore, it is important to
establish this doctrine from a careful examination of Scripture. |
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Since many professing
Christians have been taught that a limited atonement is a dangerous error,
one must carefully and objectively look at the scriptural evidence for such a
doctrine. One must avoid going to Scripture with a set of preconceived
notions that are not
derived from the Bible itself. This brief study will show that the doctrine
of limited atonement is expressly taught in Scripture. Furthermore, the
doctrine of a limited atonement logically proceeds from the other
well-established doctrines, such as God's absolute sovereignty, total
depravity, regeneration, election, etc. After the scriptural evidence is set
forth, the Arminian arguments against this doctrine will be examined. |
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There
is a great significance in the angels' expression "His people." Did
Christ come to save every person? Did He come to save the Jews only? No, He
came to save His people. "Jesus is not to save every man, but only his own
people, for whose
ransom he made a pact with the Father, in the covenant of redemption, for it
is said, he shall save his own people."56 Jesus came to save only those (the
elect) given to Him by the Father. "All that the Father gives Me will
come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.... This
is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day" (Jn. 6:37, 39). |
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Note
that the passage does not say that Jesus came to make salvation a possibility
for every individual, but that He actually will save His people. Jesus saves
His people from their sins. He saves from the guilt and penalty of sin by His
sacrificial death. He provides a perfect sinless life through His
righteousness to satisfy the covenant of works and the demands of the law.
Furthermore, He saves from the pollution and dominion of sin by the Spirit of
His grace. "[I]n the fullest and most glorious sense he will save his
people from their sins."57 The angels' glorious declaration
regarding Jesus could not
have been made if Christ did not actually secure any person's salvation but
had merely opened the possibility
of salvation. B. B. Warfield writes: "The Calvinist is he who holds
with full consciousness that God the Lord, in his saving operations, deals
not generally with mankind at large, but particularly with the individuals
who are actually saved. Thus, and thus only, he contends, can either the
supernaturalism of salvation which is the mark of Christianity at large and
which ascribes all salvation to God, or the immediacy of the operations of
saving grace which is the mark of evangelicalism and which ascribes salvation
to the direct working of God upon the soul, come to its rights and have justice
accorded to it. Particularism in the saving processes, he contends, is
already given in the supernaturalism of salvation and in the immediacy of the
operations of the divine grace; and the denial of particularism is
constructively the denial of the immediacy of saving grace, that is of
evangelicalism, and of the supernaturalism of salvation, that is of
Christianity itself. It is logically the total rejection of
Christianity."58 |
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Here
is a portion of Scripture from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself which
explicitly teaches a particular redemption. Jesus does not lay down His life for the goats, for
those who on the day of judgment are cast into the lake of fire, but only for the sheep. "It is for the
sheep–only for the sheep–that the good shepherd lays down his
life. The design of the atonement is definitely restricted. Jesus dies for
those who have been given to him by the Father, for the children of God, for
true believers. This is the teaching of the Fourth Gospel throughout (3:16;
6:37, 39, 40, 44, 65; 10:11, 15, 29; 17:6, 9, 20, 21, 24). It is also the
doctrine of the rest of Scripture. With his precious blood Christ purchased
his church (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25-27); his people (Matt. 1:21); the elect
(Rom. 8:32-35)."59 |
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If Jesus' statement regarding
bearing the sins of the sheep were contrary to all the other biblical
teaching regarding the extent of the atonement, election, predestination, and
so on, one could reasonably argue that perhaps this passage does not mean
what it appears to mean. There are several passages, however, which teach
that Christ died not for every individual, including those in hell, but only
for His church. Writing to Roman Christians Paul says: "Jesus our
Lord...was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of
our justification" (Rom. 4:25). To the Galatians Paul writes: "Our
Lord Jesus Christ...gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from
this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4). Paul says that Christ became "a
curse for us"
(Gal. 3:13); and that He actually
redeemed His people from the curse of the law (v. 13). The church–the bride
of Christ–is the object of His love: "Christ...loved the church and gave
Himself for it" (Eph. 5:25). If Christ died for every individual, and
God really intends to save everyone, Romans 8:31-33 cannot be true, for
nothing created can separate us–that
is, God's own people–from His love: "If God be for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all, how shall He not also freely give us all things?" How does Paul
define us in
Romans? As every person in the world? No, but only as the elect: "Who
shall bring a charge against God's elect?" (8:33). |
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When
the apostle Paul exhorts the Ephesian elders regarding their responsibility
toward God's people, he says: "Shepherd the church of God which He
purchased with His own blood" (Ac. 20:28). Christ purchased, redeemed,
and rescued from destruction His people, His bride, His church. Thus the
saints in heaven proclaim: "You were slain, and have redeemed us to God
by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation" (Rev.
5:9). Note that Christ did not purchase all men from every nation, but only some
out of each nation. Christ purchased the elect, the universal church, with
His own blood. This incredible purchase price (the bloody death of Christ) is
repeatedly used by Paul to goad Christians to a greater sanctification:
"You were bought at a price" (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23). If Christ did not purchase all men, then He certainly
did not die an
atoning death for all men. "Furthermore, when it is said that Christ
gave His life for His Church, or for His people, we find it impossible to
believe that He gave Himself as much for reprobates as for those whom He
intended to save. Mankind is divided into two classes and what is distinctly
affirmed of one is impliedly denied of the other."60 |
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Christ came not to save each individual in the world, but to set apart for
Himself a special people: "Jesus Christ...gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for
Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Tit. 2:14).
This passage restricts salvation "to his people, his church, those who
are redeemed from iniquity, who are purged, who are a choice and peculiar
people, and are zealous of good works. For these Christ gave himself and no
other."61
Peter, writing to the elect (1 Pet. 1:2), agrees with Paul: "Christ
suffered for us...who
Himself bore our
sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). The writer of the
epistle to Hebrews says that Christ "Himself purged our sins" (Heb. 1:13); that He
"obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12). "For by one
offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified" (Heb. 10:14). The inspired
apostles never speak of a salvation made possible to all men, but of the
actual salvation of some men: the elect. Christ sets apart a people and removes their punishment. As John says:
"The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin" (1 Jn. 1:7);
"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we
might live through Him.… He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 Jn. 4:9-10). |
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At the last supper Jesus tells
His disciples that His blood is poured out "for many": "For
this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins" (Mt. 26:28). Jesus did not die for all or for just a
few, but for the many–the elect. In Mark 10:45 Jesus says: "For even the
Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a
ransom for many." "Many,
distinguished from one and all, and here applied to true believers, or the
elect of God, for whom Christ came to suffer."62 Jesus dies as a substitute for His
people the many. "The sacrifice of the one is contrasted with those for
whom it is made; in allusion to Isa. 53:11 f. In rabbinic literature, and
even more strikingly at Qumran, "the many" is a technical term for
the elect community, the eschatological people of God."63 The apostle John understood Christ's
meaning when he wrote "He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren
(1 Jn. 3:16). The author of the epistle to the Hebrews says that "Christ
was offered to bear the sins of many" (9:28). "The 'many' here are
the same as the 'many sons'–His 'brethren'–those who should be 'heirs of
salvation,' for everyone of whom, 'by the grace of God, He tasted
death.'"64 |
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There
are some who argue that "many" is simply synonymous with
"all"; that Christ died for all or every individual. There is a
passage where all and many are used in a parallel manner: Romans 5:18-19:
"Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men,
resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free
gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will
be made righteous." Although Paul describes the benefits of Christ's
death to "all men," the "all" refers only to those united
to Christ in His death. As Adam is the covenant head of all who are sinners
by imputation, Christ is the covenant head of all who are justified or made
righteous. "The plain meaning is, all connected with Adam, and all
connected with Christ.... If the all in the latter part of the verse is co-extensive with the all in the former, the passage of
necessity teaches universal salvation; for it is impossible that to be
justified, constituted righteous,
can mean simply that justification is offered to all men. The all who are justified are saved. If
therefore the all
means, all men, the apostle teaches that all men are saved...but Paul
himself, distinctly teach[es] that all men are not to be saved, as in 2 Thes.
i. 9."65
Thus, not only does Paul teach that "all" refers not to the whole human race but only those united to Christ in His death,
but he also teaches that Christ's death actually guarantees or secures
salvation for the elect. Paul rules out the idea that Christ's death merely
made salvation a possibility. |
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The inconsistent universalist
and particular redemptionist both limit Christ's death in some manner. The
Arminian limits the power of Christ's death to save, while the Calvinist
limits the design of it.66 The Calvinist teaches that Christ's
death is of infinite value to God because Christ was the divine-human mediator. Christ's death was
sufficient to save every man, woman and child who ever lived. In fact, it was
sufficient to save everyone on a thousand planets, if God so desired. What
limits Christ's death is that by God's design and purpose Jesus died only for
the elect, those chosen to be saved before the foundation of the world. His
death is directed to and actually saves particular persons; not an indefinite
mass of people or a hypothetical humanity. Christ offered a definite
atonement. It is personal. He knows His own by name (Jn. 10:14). |
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The
Arminian believes that Christ's death guarantees the actual salvation of not
even one person. The Arminian believes in a very limited atonement: an
atonement that is weak and impotent to save. God is helpless and waits for
the sinner to save himself by choosing Christ. The Father's plan to save
humanity has been defeated, because almost all of mankind has gone to hell.
Christ shed His blood and suffered horrible tortures in vain for those who
throughout eternity scorn and reject Him. The Holy Spirit has been
overpowered and successfully resisted by the vast majority of people
throughout history. If Arminianism is true, then God's plan of redemption is
a colossal failure. God simply could not get the job done. Can a view which
presents Christ's death as a failure be true? Should we believe in a
theological system which presents God as mere puppet of man, as incompetent
in achieving His own purpose? Arminianism presents a false picture of God. It
is man-centered, a deadly hybrid between biblical Protestantism and humanism. |
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The greatest theological
problem for Arminians (or inconsistent universalists) is the doctrine of the
atonement. If one is going to hold that Christ died for every person, and yet
hold that millions of people are going to hell, then one must distort the
biblical meaning of Christ's death. That is precisely what Arminians have
done. They argue that Christ's death has opened the door to reconciliation
with God but has not actually achieved a reconciliation. They believe that
Christ's death has made salvation possible for all, but has guaranteed the
actual salvation of none. Does the Bible teach that Christ simply removed
some legal obstacles, making salvation a possibility? No, that is not what
the Bible teaches at all. |
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When the Bible discusses
Christ's work of redemption, it uses terms that can mean nothing less than
the actual accomplishment of a people's comprehensive salvation. All the
theological words derived from the biblical doctrine of the atonement are
unmistakably clear. Christ suffered vicariously; that is, He died in the place of His
people. Christ was the substitute
for His people. He assumed all their legal responsibilities; He suffered
their penalty and rendered a perfect obedience for them. Christ could not be
a substitute or vicarious sacrifice in a hypothetical sense. He lived and
died for a real, definite, actual group of people. Christ's death was expiatory; His death actually removes the guilt
of sin. His sacrifice of Himself was propitiatory; that is, it actually removes God's
judicial displeasure against the sinner. Christ not only eliminated the
guilt, penalty, and wrath due sinners, but He also lived in perfect
obedience, fulfilling all the requirements of God's law and the covenant of
works. If Christ has rendered a perfect and complete satisfaction to God, it
logically follows that those united to Him in His life, death and
resurrection must be saved and cannot go to hell. |
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That is the reason why the
Bible teaches that Christ actually secured the salvation of His people, the
elect. "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost"
(Mt. 18:11; Lk. 19:10). In the same discourse Christ says, "Even so it
is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones
should perish" (Mt. 18:14). "For He made Him who knew no sin to be
sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2
Cor. 5:21). "Christ...gave Himself for our sins; that He might deliver
us from this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4). Jesus was "born under
the law to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4-5). "Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). "This is the will of the Father who
sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up at the last day" (Jn. 6:39). "You shall call His name Jesus,
for He will save His people from their sins" (Mt. 1:21). "When Paul
says that 'Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it' (Eph.
5:25), he is alluding to Christ's sacrificial offering. But he also states
the design: 'that he might sanctify and cleanse it...that he might present it
to himself a glorious church' (vv. 26, 27). The love spoken of here, the
reference of the sacrificial offering, and the design are all restricted to
the church. The design will certainly be fulfilled, and so the love and the
giving of Himself achieve their object in the glorifying of that to which
they were directed. It is impossible to universalize the reference of the
sacrifice of Christ alluded to here; it is severely limited to those who will
finally be holy and without blemish."67 |
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The Scriptures do not teach
that Christ made reconciliation with God possible, but that He accomplished
reconciliation, justification, and peace with God. Christ "is our
peace" (Eph. 2:14). He died "that He might reconcile them [Jews and
Gentiles] both to God in one body through the cross" (Eph. 2:16),
"which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:11). Paul
says that Christ achieved a reconciliation not for those who made the first
move toward God but for sinners, for enemies. "God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us....
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of
His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life" (Rom. 5:8, 10). "But to make salvation possible, to make
possible purification, deliverance, reconciliation, is something very
different indeed from actually saving, purifying, delivering or reconciling.
No man has the right to empty the glorious terms in which the gospel is
revealed of all their saving power."68 |
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The Bible describes Christ's
death as a ransom or payment to God. Jesus came "to give His life a
ransom for many" (Mt. 20:28; cf. Mk. 10:45; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Pet.
1:18-19; Heb. 9:12; Rev. 5:9, etc.). Jesus eliminated the penalty due from
the guilt of sin by His blood. He "redeemed us from the curse of the
law" (Gal. 3:13). By His death, Christ obtained the forgiveness of sins
for His people (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). There is no indication in
Scripture that Christ only paid a partial ransom, or that God the Father has
not accepted the ransom price. On the contrary, Paul says that Christ
"gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed
and purify for Himself His own special people" (Tit. 2:14). If Christ
has paid the full ransom price, then those bought and paid for with Christ's
blood cannot go to hell. Such a thing would be a travesty of justice and
would make God's acceptance of Christ's work a sham. The implications of
Christ's ransom payment are obvious. Boettner writes: "If the suffering
and death of Christ was a ransom for all men rather than for the elect only,
then the merits of His work must be communicated to all alike and the penalty
of eternal punishment cannot be justly inflicted on any. God would be unjust
if He demanded this extreme penalty twice over, first from the substitute and
then from the persons themselves."69 |
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The Bible teaches that Jesus
Christ accomplished an objective redemption for the elect. No one who takes
the Bible seriously can question the legal, forensic, objective nature of the
terms used within the theological orbit of Christ's atoning sacrifice (e.g.,
expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, justification, and redemption). But
another crucial aspect of Christ's atonement that is ignored by Arminians is
the biblical teaching that Christ by His death also guaranteed the
application of His work to the elect subjectively. Christ purchased all the
spiritual graces for His people. God "has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ"
(Eph. 1:3). Christ's perfect redemption is the fountain out of which flows
regeneration, faith, repentance, and sanctification. |
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Although faith, repentance and sanctification are spiritual graces in which
man cooperates with the Holy Spirit, nevertheless they are described in
Scripture as gifts from God. "For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). "Him God
has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins" (Ac. 5:31). "When they heard these things they became
silent; and they glorified God saying, 'Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to
life'" (Ac. 11:18). It is man who must believe, repent, and grow in
holiness, yet man, being dead in trespasses and sins, has no natural power to
do these things. But because of God's election of some and their union with
Christ in His life, death, and resurrection, God enables those who are
unable. Even the believer's sanctification is guaranteed by his union with
Christ. Paul argues in Romans 6:1-14 that real Christians cannot continue
living in sin, because they were united with Christ in His death and
resurrection. This means that those who are never sanctified (i.e.,
unbelievers) were never united to Christ in His death and resurrection. In
other words, Christ did not die for them. Morey writes: "When Christ
lived, died, was buried, arose, ascended, and sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high, we are told that the ones for whom He did these things
are to be viewed as being in such a life union with Him as their covenant head
and representative that it is said that they lived, died, were buried, arose,
ascended and sat down at the Father's side 'in Christ' (Rom. 6:1-11; Gal.
2:20; 6:14; Eph. 2:5-6). To say that Christ died for all is to say that
all died in Christ. It
means that unbelievers are to be told that they have been crucified with
Christ, been buried with Christ, have been resurrected with Christ and have
ascended and sat down with Christ. This position is so manifestly false that
it should grieve the child of God even to consider it." 70 |
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All the graces mentioned in
which man must cooperate have their starting point in regeneration.
Regeneration is an act of God the Holy Spirit upon the human heart, which
enables men who are dead spiritually to live, understand spiritual truth, and
trust in Christ. Regeneration, or the new birth, is sovereignly bestowed by
God. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but
cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born
of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:8). God is the author of regeneration. "Then
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you
from all your filthiness and from all your idols...I will take the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:25-26).
Regeneration is a gift of God. "Not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Tit. 3:5). The foundation
of a believer's regeneration is not his faith, but union with Christ in His
death and resurrection. "God...even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (Eph.
2:6). "In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands, by putting off the body of sins of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were
raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the
dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He has made alive together with Him (Col. 2:11-13). |
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If
you are a Christian, it is because the Holy Spirit first renewed your heart
and raised you up spiritually, enabling you to believe in Christ. Why did
Lydia believe in the gospel preached by the apostle Paul? Because God first opened
her heart and enabled
her to respond to the
gospel. Paul "sat down and spoke to the woman who met there. Now a
certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city
of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things
spoken by Paul" (Ac. 16:13-14). If regeneration is something that the
Holy Spirit works directly upon the human heart, and is based upon a
believer's union with Christ in His death and resurrection, then one must
conclude that God only regenerates the elect, and the rest He passes by.71 If every person were united with
Christ in His death and resurrection, then God would regenerate every
person–but He does not. |
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The
doctrine of a universal atonement has led out of logical necessity to a
perversion of the biblical teaching regarding regeneration. Arminians argue
that the new birth is God's response to man's faith in Christ. This assumes
that man has the ability to believe apart from the regenerating power of
God's Spirit. "It infers that sinners are not really dead in sins or
totally depraved. It implies synergism, i.e., salvation is accomplished by
man and God, each doing his own part. It implies free-willism, i.e., Adam's
fall into sin and guilt did not bring man's will into bondage to sin."72 The cart is placed before the horse,
and God must share credit and glory with sinful man. "On the other hand,
if regeneration precedes faith, this implies monergism, i.e., salvation is
totally God's work from beginning to end."73 As Jonah declared: "salvation is
of the LORD" (Jon. 2:9). |
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In His priestly office Jesus
Christ not only sacrificed Himself on the cross for the elect, but also
continuously intercedes for them. "If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous" (1 Jn. 2:1). "He continues forever [and] has an
unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save those who come to
God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them"
(Heb. 7:24-25). Christ's bloody death and His high priestly work go hand in
hand. They cannot be separated. The common notion that Jesus died and is now
passively waiting for people to accept Him is false. This means that if
Christ died for every person in the world He must also intercede for every
person in the world. It would be absurd for Christ to suffer and die an
agonizing death to save someone and then refuse to pray for that person, yet in Jesus'
high priestly prayer He refused to pray for all men and prayed only for the
elect. "As You have given Him authority over all flesh, then He should
give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.… I pray for them. I do
not pray for the world but for those whom You have given me, for they are
Yours.... Holy Father, keep through your name those whom You have given Me,
that they may be one as We are.… I do not pray that You should take them out
of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one...and for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do
not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through
their word.... Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with
Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You
loved me before the foundation of the world" (Jn. 17:2, 9, 11, 15, 19,
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If
Jesus had indeed died for everyone in the world and was endeavoring to save
all mankind, would He not then pray for everyone in the world to be saved?
Yet He prays only for those chosen by the Father, those whom the Father gives
to the Son. J. C. Ryle wrote: "This special intercession of the
Lord Jesus is one grand secret of the believer's safety. He is daily watched,
and thought for, and provided for with unfailing care, by One whose eye never
slumbers and never sleeps. Jesus is 'able to save them to the uttermost who
come unto God by Him, because He ever liveth to make intercession for them'
(Heb. vii. 25). They never perish, because He never ceases to pray for them,
and His prayer must prevail. They stand and persevere to the end, not because
of their own strength and goodness, but because Jesus intercedes for them.
When Judas fell never to rise again, while Peter fell, but repented, and was
restored, the reason of the difference lay under those words of Christ to
Peter, 'I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not' (Luke xxii.
32)."74 |
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is left with only three possible choices. First, Christ prays for everyone
and the Father refuses to answer Christ's prayers. This option is
unscriptural and impossible, for Christ doesn't pray for all, and we are told
that Christ's intercession does save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). Second,
Christ died for all but refuses to intercede for all. This would place a gross
disharmony within Christ's redemptive work. Third, Jesus died only for the
elect, and thus prays only for the elect. This is the only option that is
scriptural and makes any sense. |
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The
apostle Paul clearly held to the third view. "Who shall bring a charge
against God's elect? It is God who justifies.... It is Christ who died, and
furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us" (Rom. 8:33-34). Owen writes: "That he
died for all and
intercedeth for some
will scarcely be squared to this text, especially considering the foundation
of all this, which is (verse 32) that love of God which moved him to give up
Christ to death for us all; upon which the apostle infers a kind of
impossibility in not giving us all good things in him; which how it can be
reconciled with their opinion who affirm that he gave his Son for millions to
whom he will give neither grace nor glory, I cannot see."75 |
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The Arminian view of Christ's
atonement not only contradicts the biblical definition of Christ's redemptive
work, but also contradicts itself. An examination of three options regarding
Christ's death will prove that Arminianism is irrational. Jesus Christ paid
the price and endured God's wrath against sin for either: 1) all the sins of
all men, 2) all the sins of some men, or 3) some of the sins of all men. If
number 3 is true, then all men still have the guilt of some sins to answer
for. This would mean that all men will go to hell, for it only takes the
guilt of one sin to merit eternal damnation. If one holds to option 2, that
Christ died for all of the sins of some men, then one believes that only some
men (i.e., God's elect) will be saved and go to heaven. This is simply biblical
Christianity; that Christ actually achieved the salvation of all of God's
elect. The non-elect are passed by and perish. Arminianism, or inconsistent
universalism, holds to position number 1, that Christ died for all the sins
of all men. If this position is true, then why are not all men freed from the
punishment of all their sins. The Arminian will answer: "because they
refused to believe in Jesus Christ. They are guilty of unbelief." But
this unbelief, is it a sin or is it not a sin? If unbelief is not a sin, then
why should anyone by punished for it? If unbelief is a sin, then Christ was
punished for it in His death. If Christ paid for this sin as all others, then
why must this sin stop anyone from entering heaven more than any of the other
sins (e.g., murder, adultery, homosexuality, etc.). Furthermore, if Christ
did not die for the sin of unbelief, then one cannot say that He died for all
the sins of all men. The Arminian cannot escape from the horns of this
theological dilemma.76 |
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Given the fact that the Bible
explicitly teaches that many people will go to hell, one is basically left
with two options as to why; first, one can believe that God never really
intended to save all men, that He of His own good pleasure decided to save
only some. In other words, God is simply unwilling to save all men. The other option is
that God really wants to save all men, but He does not have the power to do
so. God is unable
to save all men. The one who believes in a limited or definite atonement
accepts the first option, because he believes it is in accord with all of the
scriptural passages related to Christ's death. The one who believes in a
universal atonement does have some apparent universalistic passages (dealt with
below), but he is forced by his position to ignore or redefine several
important doctrines: the nature of the atonement, union with Christ, Jesus'
intercessory work, the new birth, and even God's sovereignty. |
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The Bible teaches that God has
ordained all things that come to pass, that He controls all events. God is
absolutely sovereign. Yet the Bible also teaches that God is not the author
of sin; that God doesn't do violence to, or coerce the wills of men; that men
are definitely responsible for their actions as valid moral secondary agents.
The Arminian system is a denial of the biblical doctrine of salvation and
God's absolute sovereignty. In order to understand Arminian theology, one
must examine their presuppositions. The whole system of universalism grows
out of a few assumptions, none
of which are based on the word of God. The first presupposition is that God
had to voluntarily limit His own sovereign power in order for men to have a
genuine free will. Arminians reason that if God has control over man's will,
then man cannot be held responsible for His actions. A second presupposition
is that God cannot command man to do something that he does not have the
ability to carry out. Both of these assumptions are contrary to the clear
teaching of God's word. |
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1. The Bible teaches that God
can accomplish whatever He desires. God is God. He cannot be thwarted by
finite sinful man. |
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If
God controls man's steps, does this not prove that God is in total control?
No matter what man plans, God's will is perfectly executed. |
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"What could be more explicit? Out of the heart are 'the issues of life'
(Prov. 4:23), for as man 'thinketh in his heart, so is he' (Prov. 23:7). If then the
heart is in the hand of the Lord, and if 'he turneth it whithersoever He
will,' then is it not clear that men, yea, governors and rulers, and so all
men, are completely
beneath the governmental control of the Almighty!"78 |
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The
Arminian doctrine that God sovereignly decided to create an area of created
reality (man's will) outside of His control is irrational. It is a
theological impossibility. Why? Because God by nature is absolutely sovereign
and all powerful. He cannot
create a pocket of chance or pure contingency in His creation. God would have
to cease to be God and deny Himself to do so. God could no more cease control
of man's spirit then He could create a being that could exist apart from His
sustaining power. God has created all things. He controls all things that
come to pass by His power, and according to His plan. There is not one atom
or one creature beyond His power and control. The very reason that God knows
every bit of history in advance is not just that He knows all things and is
outside of time, but also because everything comes to pass according to His
decree. Nothing can occur without His ordering. "Should anything take
place contrary to the will of God, because in the opinion of the finite
creature it is not 'good,' then Satan and man (on occasion at least) must be
equal or superior to the Creator whose Word claims that He is omnipotent and
wholly irresistible! On the other hand, if the determinative will of Jehovah
reflects His immutable nature of Being, it can neither be obstructed nor
cancelled. Therefore, whatever comes to pass in any part of creation, at any
time in history, does so because the omniscient God knew it as a possibility,
willed it as a reality by His omnipotence, and established it in His divine
plan or purpose."80 |
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The
Bible teaches that when Christ returns, all His saints will receive glorified
bodies and spend eternity in paradise with Him. All evangelicals believe
this, yet the popular modern evangelical idea that God voluntarily limits His
power so He doesn't intrude on man's free will would render this doctrine
impossible. Why? Because if God has no power to control man's heart and will,
there can never be a guarantee that someday down the road God's saints or the
angels will not sin and rebel against Him. In fact, given the length of the
saints' stay in heaven (i.e., forever and ever), another fall into sin would
be inevitable. If the Arminian argues that God will change the saints' nature
at the resurrection rendering Christians unable to sin in heaven, then he has
conceded the whole argument. Why? Because if God is able to change man's
heart or spirit to make it fit for the heavenly state, then He also has the
power to change man's heart and will on earth. |
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One of the common arguments
against God's sovereign grace is that God would never command man to do
something that he is unable to do. Thus, it is argued that all men must have
the ability to believe and repent of their own power apart from God's
regenerating grace. It is astounding that an argument so obviously
unscriptural could be so common among churches that hold to biblical
inerrancy. |
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The
Bible unequivocally teaches that all men are sinners (Rom. 3:9); none are
righteous (Rom. 3:10); none does good (Rom. 3:12); none seek after God (Rom.
3:11); all are corrupt (Ps. 14:3); none have the ability to repent (2 Pet.
2:13; Jer. 13:23; Rom. 8:6-8); all are dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1); and are
deaf and blind to spiritual truth (Isa. 6:9-10; Mk. 4:12; Lk. 8:10). Nothing
could be more clear than that the fall of Adam has rendered mankind
spiritually unable to respond to the gospel, yet God commands "all men
everywhere to repent" (Ac. 17:30), and believe in Jesus Christ. The same
Jesus who went throughout Israel preaching the good news said, "No one
can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him" (Jn. 6:44). |
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God
gave the ten commandments to Israel and demands a perfect and perpetual
obedience to His moral law from all mankind in thought, word and deed. Yet
the Scriptures make it abundantly clear that no one except Jesus Christ has
kept, or can keep, God's law. "For what the law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom.
8:3). Jesus commanded His disciples to be perfect (Mt. 5:48), yet the apostle
John says that no Christian can achieve sinless perfection in this life (1
Jn. 1:8). Jesus often commanded people to do things that apart from God's
miraculous power they were totally unable to accomplish. "The man with
the withered hand was commanded to arise and walk; the sick man to arise,
take up his bed and walk."81 After Lazarus was in the tomb dead for
four days and was a rotting corpse, Jesus commanded Him to come forth. The
idea that God can only base His commands on what man can do is thoroughly
unscriptural and humanistic to the core. Why should God lower His perfect
standard of righteousness to cater to man's sinful infirmities? The fact that
man has rendered himself spiritually unable because of sin does not for one
moment absolve him of his responsibility to obey God's moral precepts,
believe in Jesus Christ, or repent of his sins. Berkhof writes: "The reductio
ad absurdum of the
Arminian view is that the sinner can gain complete emancipation from
righteous obligations by sinning. The more a man sins, the more he becomes a
slave of sin, unable to do that which is good; and the deeper he sinks into
this slavery which robs him of his capacity for good, the less responsible he
becomes. If man continues to sin long enough, he will in the end be absolved
of all moral responsibility."82 Girardeau writes: "It is common
to represent the Calvinist as holding that God chains the sinner to a stake, and
then invites him to come to provisions which are placed beyond his reach. The
Calvinist teaches no such doctrine. He contends that the sinner chains
himself, and that he prefers his chains to the provisions of redemption which
are tendered him. He forges his own chain and then hugs it. The true doctrine
is that the bread and the water of life are offered to all. None, by nature,
hunger for the bread; none thirst for the water. To some God pleases to
impart the hunger and the thirst which impel them to come and partake. Others
he leaves under the influence of a distaste for these provisions of
salvation–a distaste not implanted by him, but engendered by their own
voluntary sin."83 |
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All honest students of
Scripture must acknowledge that the Bible teaches that God is absolutely
sovereign over His creation, including the actions of mankind. God has
predestined (or foreordained) whatsoever comes to pass. (Eph. 1:5, 11; Rom.
9:13-22; 8:29-39). The Bible also teaches that men are valid secondary agents
and are truly responsible for their actions (Ac. 2:23; 4:27, 28; Jn. 9:11;
Rev. 20:12; Jas. 1:13). The reason that so many evangelicals have perverted
and avoided many of these important biblical truths is their insistence on
attempting to fit difficult theological concepts into a humanistic
straightjacket. The humanistic definition of human freedom, in which nothing
can have an outside influence upon man, would require man to be God. Only God, who is self-existent,
uncreated, undetermined, etc., is truly free in the sense that humanists
demand. Man, however, is a creature. No person chose his parents, culture,
time of birth, genetic pattern, etc. |
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The
biblical view of human freedom means first that man is not a robot or
unconscious machine, but is a rational being created in the image of God. Man
has rational self-determination. He is not determined by materialistic or
extrinsic physical causes. It also means that God exerts His sovereign
influence over man without destroying man's valid choice. God does not put a
gun to man's head to force him to choose a certain way, but so uses internal
(emotions, desires, habits, etc.) and external (upbringing, circumstances,
etc.) means upon him that he freely acts in accordance with God's plan (i.e.,
His decree). When a person chooses to do something, he does not act against
his own will but freely follows his own heart. "The comprehensive decree
provides that each man shall be a free agent, possessing a certain character,
surrounded by a certain environment, subject to certain external influences,
internally moved by certain affections, desires, habits, etc., and that in
view of all these he shall freely and rationally make a choice. That the
choice will be one thing and not another, is certain; and God, who knows and
controls the exact causes of each influence, knows what the choice will be,
and in a real sense determines it."84 |
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Modern evangelicals may find this doctrine difficult and abhorrent, but those
who claim to accept the authority of Scripture cannot escape it. God decrees
the acts of man, yet men are free and responsible for their actions.
"There is not a single indication in Scripture that the inspired writers
are conscious of a contradiction in connection with these matters. They never
make an attempt to harmonize the two. This may well restrain us from assuming
a contradiction here, even if we cannot reconcile both truths."85 When the apostle Paul mentions the
obvious objection to God's control over man's will in Romans 9:20, he refuses
to even debate the issue. He simply says: "But indeed, O man, who are
you to reply against God?" |
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In spite of the overwhelming
evidence in the Bible for a limited atonement, universalists simply point to
the passages in the New Testament which say that Christ died for "all
men" or the "world" and say, "case closed." These
passages, on the surface, may appear to contradict a limited atonement, but
when biblically understood are actually in complete harmony with it. It is
not uncommon for important doctrines to have what are called problem texts.
Anyone familiar with cults knows how they take passages out of context and
import their own meaning into them. In order to avoid the same mistake, a few
principles of biblical interpretation should be considered. |
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One
important principle is that Scripture cannot contradict Scripture. Therefore,
when two or more passages seem to contradict one another, the clearer
passages must be used to interpret the less clear ones. Another important
principle is that the meaning of a word should be derived from the biblical
text and not modern culture. Several passages in which a word is used should
be studied and compared in order to understand its meaning and usage when the
gospel or epistle was written. If someone ignores how a word or phrase was
used in first century Greek, Roman, or Hebrew society and instead imports a
twentieth century American or European meaning, he often will totally
misunderstand what the Bible says. This is precisely what Arminians have done
with the words "all" and "world." They have not closely
checked the biblical usage, and thus have poured their own meaning into these
words. A brief examination of these words in Scripture will prove that they
do not teach that Christ died for every sinner who ever lived. |
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Does the word "all"
in Scripture mean all men without exception throughout the entire world? The
word "all" almost never carries that sense. It is restricted by the
biblical context. "And you [the apostles] will be hated by all for My name's sake" (Mt. 10:22).
The apostles obviously were not hated by every man, woman, and child
throughout the world, but only by a majority of unbelievers whom they came in
contact with throughout the Roman empire. "All counted John to have been a prophet
indeed" (Mk. 11:32). This cannot mean all men or even all of the Jews,
for many of the Pharisees did not regard John as a prophet. It simply means that
most people among the Jews regarded John as a prophet. "My manner of
life from my youth...all
the Jews know" (Ac. 26:4). This cannot mean that all the Jews scattered
throughout the world knew of Paul. Nor does it even mean that every Jew
within Israel knew Paul personally. It simply means that many Jews knew
Paul's manner of life. "And they came to John and said to him, 'Rabbi,
He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified–behold, He
is baptizing, and all
are coming to Him!'" (Jn. 3:26; cf. Mt. 3:5-6; Mk. 1:5). Not all in the
world, or even all in Judea, but many in Israel came to Jesus. "And I, if I be lifted up
from the earth, will draw all
men to Myself" (Jn. 12:32, NASB). This cannot mean all men without
exception, for it would mean that all men will be saved. "This all
men, in the given
context which places Greeks next to Jews, must mean men from every nation."86 The apostle Paul was told, "you
will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard" (Ac. 22:15). Did
Paul preach the gospel to the Chinese, the Eskimos, or the Indians in North
and South America? Of course not! What is meant is that Paul would be
preaching to the Jews and the Gentiles. Now that it has been established scripturally that all often does not mean every human being
on earth throughout history, let us examine some of the universalistic proof
texts which are based on the word all. |
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But
does the Greek language permit one to translate or interpret "all
men" as "all kinds of men"? Yes; in fact, there are many
instances in the New Testament in which pas is translated as "all kinds
of" or "all manner of" (e.g., Mt. 4:23; 5:11; 10:1; Lk. 11:42;
Ac. 10:12; Rom. 7:8; Rev. 21:19). Custance writes: "Every lexicon of New
Testament Greek and of Classical Greek agrees upon the validity of the
expanded translation. Thayer, for example, gives a number of references by
way of illustration and adds this comment: 'So especially with nouns designating
virtues or vices, customs, characters, conditions, etc.' On numerous
occasions it greatly illuminates the text to convert the simple 'all'
(whether things or men) into 'all kinds of' or some such alternative."91 Therefore, if the context and many
other clear doctrines and passages point in the direction of the expanded
meaning of all (i.e., "all kinds of"), then one is justified in
preferring such an interpretation. |
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Although the Greek language permits, and the immediate context favors, the
view that Paul is speaking of all kinds of men, the greatest reason one should favor
the interpretation above is that it best fits with the many clear passages
which discuss Christ's death and God's will. The salvation spoken of in this
passage is not a mere possibility of salvation, or an offer of salvation, or
an arrangement set up by God in which men can save themselves. Paul is
speaking of a real, certain and actual salvation. When Paul says that it is
God's will, or desire, that all men are to be saved, he is not speaking of a
will conditioned by man's response. Such would clearly contradict Scripture:
"it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows
mercy" (Rom. 9:16; cf. Jn. 1:13). God's will regarding "the
salvation of men is absolute and unconditional, and what infallibly secures
and produces it"92 (cf. Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:4, 5, 11;
2:10). If it was God's will that all men without exception should be saved,
then all men would go to heaven. This passage would teach a universal
salvation. Paul says, "Who has resisted His will" (Rom 9:19)? God's
word declares: "He does according to His will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth" (Dan. 4:35). |
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Does
the Bible teach that it is God's desire to save all men? No, not at all. God
did not choose or elect all men to eternal life. He only chose some; the rest
are hardened (Rom. 9:18). These are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction
(2 Th. 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 2:8-9; Pr. 16:4; 1 Th. 5:9). God is infinite in power,
knowledge and wisdom. If God really was trying to save every individual
throughout history, then why did He restrict His special revelation to a tiny
nation in Palestine under the Old Covenant? Why did God forbid Paul, Timothy,
and Silas to preach the gospel in Asia (Ac. 16:6)? Why does the Bible
repeatedly say that God hides the truth from many people (Mt. 11:25; Isa.
6:9-10)? Why did Jesus Christ not pray and intercede for all men, but only
for some (Jn. 17:9)? In Acts 9, Jesus Christ appears to Paul and turns a
zealous persecutor of Christians into the greatest evangelist the world has
ever known. Why doesn't God raise up thousands of apostle Pauls to spread the
gospel throughout the earth? God certainly has the power to do so. But He
does not. Regeneration is a sovereign act of God, yet God refuses to
regenerate all men. Faith and repentance are gifts of God, yet God only
grants these gifts to some and not others. The Bible clearly teaches that God
is not trying to save all men. What it does teach is that He will save some
people out of every nation before Christ returns (Rev. 5:9). |
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Those who believe that Christ
died for all men without exception use as proof texts passages which say that
Christ is the "Savior of the world" (Jn. 4:42; 1 Jn. 4:14), or that
say "God so loved the world" (Jn. 3:16). Before one assumes that
the term "world" means every single human being in the world
without exception, one should carefully examine how the word world (kosmos) is used in Scripture. The term
"world" has a variety of meanings in the New Testament. The best
way to determine the meaning in each passage is to examine the context and
other passages that have a similar usage. A clear passage can shed light on a
less clear passage. |
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There
are at least eight different uses of the term "world" in the New
Testament. 1. The word can refer to the entire created order–the universe.
"God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven
and earth…" (Ac. 17:24). 2. It can refer to the earth itself.
"Jesus...loved His own who were in the world" (Jn. 13:1; cf. Eph.
1:4). 3. "World" can mean the evil world system (cf. Jn. 12:31; 1
Jn. 5:19). 4. Sometimes kosmos
refers to the whole human race (except Jesus Christ). After spending two and
a half chapters proving that all men without exception are sinners, Paul says
"all the world" is guilty before God (Rom. 3:19). 5. Sometimes
world refers only to unbelievers. The devil is called the "deceiver of
the whole world" (Rev. 12:9). John says that "the whole world lies
under the sway of the wicked one" (1 Jn. 5:19). Christians are not under
Satan's power. Revelation 13:13 says that "all the world...followed the
beast," yet Christians do not follow the beast or receive his mark (Rev.
14:9-10). When Jesus told His disciples: "the world hates you" (Jn.
15:18), He obviously was referring only to unbelievers. 6. The term world can
also be used to describe the Roman empire or what was considered the civilized
world in the days of the apostles. "A decree went out from Caesar
Augustus that all the world should be registered" (Lk. 2:1). When Paul
wrote to the church at Rome and said, "your faith is spoken of
throughout the whole world" (1:8), most of the earth had not heard the
gospel and knew nothing about the Roman church (cf. Ac. 2:5; Col. 1:23; Ac.
19:27; Gen. 41:57). 7. "World" is also used as a synonym for the
Gentiles. "Now if their [i.e., the Jews] fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?"
(Rom. 11:12; cf. v. 15, 32). 8. Sometimes "world" is used as a
general term referring to the human race throughout the world. "God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to
them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:19).
This passage means that God is propitious to men (i.e., the class of beings).
This passage cannot
mean that God has reconciled every single individual in the world to Himself,
for it cannot be said of individuals who do not believe and go to hell that
God has not imputed their trespasses to them. People without sin do not go to
hell. God is exercising mercy toward mankind as a class by saving men out of
every nation, tribe, and tongue (Rev. 5:9). Some commentators (e.g., Arthur
W. Pink and John Gill) argue that "world" in this and other similar
passages is synonymous with believers only or the elect.93 Although this interpretation has merit
and fits in with the analogy of Scripture, it is not necessary to refute the
notion that Christ died for all men without exception. Passages such as 2
Corinthians 5:19 and John 3:16 contain within their own contexts phrases
which render the universalist interpretation impossible. Since the word
"world" can be used in so many different ways in Scripture, one
should be very careful to study the context in each case before jumping to a
conclusion which contradicts other plain teachings in Scripture. Here are a
few examples. |
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When the Bible says that Jesus
Christ is "the Savior of the world," it does not mean that He died
for every individual in the world, but that He came to save people from every
nation and not just Israel. This later interpretation is easily proven from the
context. In John 4 Jesus witnesses to and converts a Samaritan woman. To
modern believers this may hold little significance, but in Jesus' day the
Jews had nothing to do with the Samaritans (Jn. 4:9). After the woman
witnesses to the Samaritans of her city and many believe, Jesus spends two
whole days among the Samaritans and many more believe in Him (Jn. 4:39-41).
The Samaritans say to the woman, "this is indeed the Christ, the Savior
of the world" (4:42). The common idea in Jesus' day among Jews was that
the Messiah was coming to save only Israel, but to the Samaritans' surprise
and gratitude, they now understand that the Messiah will save people from
every nation, even the despised Samaritans. To assert that the Samaritans
were saying that Christ had come to offer a hypothetical salvation to every
individual, or that every individual in the whole world would actually be
saved is absurd. |
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But what about 1 John 2:2,
"He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only,
but also for the whole world"? The apostle John was a Jew writing to
Jewish believers.94 John is saying that Christ is the
propitiation not only for the sins of the Jews, but also for the whole
world–the Gentiles also. This interpretation is preferable for a number of
reasons. First, note the striking similarity between this passage and John
11:51, 52, "Jesus would die for the nation [Israel], and not for that
nation [Israel] only, but also that He would gather together in one the children
of God who were scattered abroad [i.e., the elect in every nation–the
world]." Caiaphas, under divine inspiration, contrasts Israel and the
world. It was common for Jews in ancient rabbinic literature to use the terms
"world" and "Gentiles" as synonymous. Note how the
apostle Paul uses "world" and "Gentiles" in a parallel
manner: "Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles..." (Rom. 11:12).95 Second, John uses the word
"propitiation," a word which means that God's wrath against the
sinner is appeased and removed. If John means that Christ is a propitiation
for all men without exception, even for those people in hell, then this
passage would teach a universal salvation. If one prefers to translate the
Greek word as "expiation" instead of "propitiation," the
passage would still teach universalism. Expiation means that the guilt of sin
is removed. If the guilt of sin is removed from everyone, then why would God
punish anyone? Third, "If Christ is the propitiation for everybody, it would be idle tautology to say,
first, 'He is the propitiation for our sins and also
for everybody.' There could be no 'also' if He is the propitiation for the
entire human family. Had the apostle meant to affirm that Christ is a universal propitiation, he had
omitted the first clause of v. 2, and simply said, 'He is the propitiation
for the sins of the whole world.'"96 |
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"For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life." |
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This
passage is often quoted by those who argue that Christ died for all men
without exception. But the phrase "that whosoever believes"
restrains the universal term "world." It shows that Christ only
died for those who believe in Him. Only believers have their sins removed and
thus have eternal life. Furthermore, the reason that the Father sent His Son
into the world was His love. The Bible, however, teaches that God does not love every individual in the world.
"Did God love Pharaoh? (Rom. 9:17). Did He love the Amalekites? (Ex.
17:14). Did He love the Canaanites, whom He commanded to be exterminated
without mercy? (Dt. 20:16). Did He love the Ammonites and Moabites whom He
commanded not to be received into the congregation forever? (Dt. 23:3). Does
He love the workers of iniquity? (Ps. 5:5). Does He love the vessels of wrath
fitted for destruction, which He endures with much long-suffering? (Rom.
9:22). Did He love Esau? (Rom. 9:13)."97 It is true that God bestows a type of
general favor upon mankind that theologians call common grace. That is, all
men enjoy the benefits of God's creation for a season. It is also true that
in a sense all mankind receives certain benefits from Christ's death. The
rise of western Christian culture has influenced the world, but these general
benefits certainly do not explain the infinite love behind Christ's death. |
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Because of the context and the manner in which "world" is used in
other similar passages, it is unlikely that "world" in John 3:16
refers to mankind generally. "[T]he term indicates fallen mankind in
its international aspect:
men from every tribe and nation; not only Jews but also Gentiles."98 God did not love Israel alone, but
every nation. This does not mean that God loves every individual in each
nation. Poole writes: "It is proper enough to say, A man loved such a
family to such a degree that he gave his estate to it, though he never
intended such a thing to every child or branch of it."99 |
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A common objection against a
particular redemption is to quote passages in which men are invited to
believe, and then infer that man must have a free will and that Christ died
for all men without exception. There are many "whoever" passages:
"whoever believes" (Jn. 3:16; 11:26; Rom. 9:33; 10:11; Ac. 10:43,
etc.); "whoever confesses" (Lk. 12:8); "whoever receives
Me" (Mk. 9:37); "whoever will come after Me" (Mk. 8:34).
Isaiah's prophetic invitation is often quoted: "Ho! Everyone who
thirsts, come to the waters" (55:1). The idea that the gospel is offered
to all; therefore, God is trying to save all; or therefore, Christ died for
all is an assumption.
The gospel is to be preached to "all nations" (Mt. 28:19) and
"to every creature" (Mk. 16:15) because God has His elect in every
nation (Rev. 5:9). No one knows who is elect and who isn't; the gospel must
be offered to all without exception. Jesus said, "many are called but
few are chosen" (Mt. 22:14). Christ encouraged Paul to preach the gospel
in Corinth; "for I have many people in this city" (Ac. 18:10). It
is true that whoever believes in Christ will be saved, but the Bible teaches
that some believe and others do not believe because of the electing choice of
the Father and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. God makes those
dead in sins and unable, alive and able (Eph. 2:1). The unwilling are made
willing. "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws
him; and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn. 6:44). |
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Another passage quoted as a proof text against sovereign grace is Romans
10:17: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God." Arminians quote this passage and say, "See, people hear the
word and believe; God didn't cause them to believe." The Calvinist does
not deny that God uses means to achieve His purpose. The Holy Spirit uses the
word of God to convince and convict. "If God has ordained a man to be
saved, he has also ordained that he shall hear the Gospel, and that he shall
believe and repent."100 Paul says, "I planted, Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is
anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (1 Cor.
3:6-7). In order for people to become Christians, they must hear the gospel
and believe. But only those who God regenerates will believe. God gives the increase. |
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A
passage often quoted by Arminians is Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to
her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers
her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" Arminians say that
this passage proves that Christ is trying to save all men without exception,
but it is only their human wills that prevent Him. Such an interpretation
ignores both the context and the text itself and thus must be rejected. |
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A
common mistake is to assume that Christ is speaking only about one group of
people–the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Note, however, that Christ is discussing
two groups. One is designated Jerusalem; the other "your children"
(or Jerusalem's children). A careful reading of the whole chapter makes it
very clear that by Jerusalem is meant the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of
the city: "The scribes and the Pharisees [who] sit in Moses' seat"
(v. 2); that is, the Sanhedrin. Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees
hypocrites, hinderers of the truth, oppressors of the poor, blind fools,
blind guides, full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness, and sons of those
who murdered the prophets. Jesus does not say, "I wanted to gather you (the
ecclesiastical guides and rulers of the people) but you were not
willing"; he says, "I wanted to gather your children [your subjects]...but you were not
willing." That is, the leaders of Jerusalem did everything in their
power to hinder the work of Christ and prevent the people from coming to Him.
Their apostate leadership brought destruction upon the city. It would be
contradictory for Christ to spend a whole chapter speaking judgment,
indignation, and rejection upon the Jewish leaders and then say, "I want
to protect and nurture you wicked hypocrites, oppressors, murderers,
etc." Gill writes: "The ruler and governors...are manifestly
distinguished from their children;
it being usual to call such who were the heads of the people, either in a
civil or ecclesiastical sense fathers, Acts 7:2, and 22:1., and such who were subjects and
disciples, children,
19:44, Matt. 12:27, Isa. 8:16, 18. Besides, our Lord's discourse, throughout
the whole context, is directed to the Scribes and Pharisees, the
ecclesiastical guides of the people."101 David Dickson writes: "O
Jerusalem, how oft was I about to convert thy children, so many as I had
elected, by the offers of mercy which my servants made unto you, the visible
Church their mother? And you would not, but opposed my work so far as you could,
in slaying the prophets, and stoning them who were sent unto thee for the
elect's cause who were in the midst of you."102 |
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A
passage that is often quoted as a proof text for a universal atonement is 2
Peter 2:1, "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as
there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in
destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who brought them, and bring on themselves swift
destruction." Arminians use this passage to argue that Christ died for
people who reject Him and go to hell. In other words, Christ bought or
purchased with His own blood not just those who believe, but also those who
disbelieve. The Arminian interpretation of this passage is the result of
sloppy exegesis of Scripture, and must be rejected for a number of reasons. |
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First, one needs to understand that Peter is not speaking about Christ in this passage,
but God the Father. The word that Peter used for Lord (despoten) in this passage, when used of a person
in the Godhead, is always used to describe God the Father, and is never used
to describe Christ. For example, Jude 4 says, "The only Lord (despoten) God and our Lord (kurion) Jesus Christ." Other instances
are Luke 2:29, Acts 4:24, 2 Timothy 2:21, and Revelation 6:10. The Holy
Spirit for some reason uses a different word to describe the Father's
lordship from that of Jesus Christ. This, of course, is not meant to detract
in any way from Christ's glory and power. Gill writes: "the word despotes is properly expressive only of that
power which masters have over their servants; whereas the word kurios, which is used whenever Christ is
called Lord, signifies that dominion and authority which princes have over
their subjects."103 |
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The
reason that it is significant that Peter is speaking about the Father rather
than specifically about Christ is that the word "bought," in this
context, cannot refer to the blood of Christ. This makes sense in light of
the fact that the Bible teaches that those redeemed by Christ cannot fall
away and be forever lost (e.g., Jn. 10:29; Rom. 8:29-39; Eph. 1:11, 14). What
this purchase refers to is a temporal deliverance. Peter is using an expression which hearkens
back to Israel's deliverance from Egypt. "Do you thus deal with the
Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has
He not made you and established you?" (Dt. 32:6). There can be no
question that Peter had Israel's deliverance and experience in the wilderness
in mind (cf. 2 Pet. 2:12-13; Dt. 32:5). Note the comparison between the
people's corruption and their blemish. Gill writes: "Peter makes use of
this phrase much in the same manner as Moses had done before him, to
aggravate the ingratitude and impiety of these false teachers among the Jews;
that they should deny, if not in words, at least in works, that mighty
Jehovah, who had of old redeemed their fathers out of Egypt, with a
stretched-out arm, and, in successive ages, had distinguished them with
particular favours; being ungodly men, turning the grace, the doctrine of the
grace of God into lasciviousness."104 |
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The
history of Israel shows that many of the Israelites denied the Lord that
bought them, and thus perished in the wilderness. But we know from subsequent
revelation that the Israelites who perished in the wilderness were never
truly saved in the spiritual sense, but only received a temporary physical
deliverance. When the author of Hebrews describes the Israelites who perished
in the wilderness he says, "They have not known My ways.… We see that
they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Heb. 3:10, 19). Therefore,
there is no reason (in 2 Pet. 2:1) to conclude that Peter refers to people
who had genuine saving faith in Christ and who were actually purchased with
His blood. In fact, there is every reason to conclude that Peter is
discussing people who never had true faith; who only received temporary
outward benefits. As the apostle John says, "They went out from us, but they
were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with
us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them
were of us" (1 Jn. 2:19). |
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Another strong reason to reject the interpretation which says that Christ
shed His blood for people who go to hell is that it would totally contradict
Scripture. Scripture consistently affirms that Christ died for: "His
people" (Mt. 1:21); His "sheep" (Jn. 10:11, 14-16); "the
church" (Eph. 5:25); "the elect" (Rom. 8:31-33); "us"–that
is, believers (Tit. 2:14; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb. 1:3; 9:12; 10:14; 1 Jn. 1:7;
4:9-10); "the brethren" (1 Jn. 3:16); the "many" (Mt.
26:28; Mk. 10:45; Heb. 9:28). The Bible emphatically declares that all those
for whom Christ died will definitely be saved (Jn. 6:39; Mt. 1:21; 18:11; Lk.
19:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 1:4; 4:4-5). Furthermore, it is irrational to assert
that Christ removed the guilt and penalty due for sin for a particular person
who will also have to pay the penalty for his sins in hell. That would be a
great injustice. If one lets Scripture interpret Scripture, then one must
reject the Arminian interpretation of 2 Peter 2:1.105 |
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Those who teach that Christ
died for all men without exception must ignore the clear testimony of
Scripture. Furthermore, the objections commonly raised against a limited
atonement reveal either a poor understanding of biblical interpretation or a
desire to impose one's own presuppositions upon Scripture, or both. To deny
limited atonement is to distort and pervert the whole biblical message of
salvation, for there is a great difference between a death that actually
saves–that actually renders satisfaction–and a sacrifice that makes salvation
possible, if spiritually dead sinners do their part. The Arminian (or
semi-Pelagian) message denigrates the cross of Christ. It is the root of both
Romanism and humanism. |
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A doctrine crucial to
understanding the biblical doctrine of salvation is efficacious grace.
Efficacious grace means that men who are dead spiritually are regenerated and
effectually called by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works immediately upon
the soul infusing a new spiritual life into it, thus changing it in such a
way that it is spiritually alive and oriented toward Jesus Christ. The Holy
Spirit enables and persuades men to embrace Jesus Christ savingly. The reason
it is called efficacious grace is that this special grace produces the effect
intended by God: the salvation of particular individuals. This special grace
has been called irresistible, effectual, invincible, unconquerable, and
certain. This doctrine logically proceeds from man's total depravity and
inability, God's unchangeable decree of election, and Christ's definite atonement
for the elect. The doctrine of efficacious grace is intimately related to the
doctrines of regeneration and effectual calling. If a person understands the
biblical teaching regarding these doctrines, he will understand efficacious
grace. |
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Efficacious grace is one of
the pillars of biblical Christianity, for the only theological alternatives
to it involve some type of human merit in salvation. Classical Arminianism
teaches that all men are depraved as a result of Adam's sin and thus cannot
believe in Christ and repent without God's help. They argue that Christ died
for all men without exception and that by His death Christ provided
sufficient grace to all men to believe and repent.106 Men are required to cooperate with
this sufficient grace. Men of their own power, their own free will, either
cooperate with this grace or reject it. In the Arminian system, salvation is
based on the free will of man. Arminianism does not permit God to be
sovereign over the salvation of sinners because that would intrude upon their
concept of the sovereignty of the will of man. Man "is powerful enough
to obstruct or resist the [special] grace of God who desperately wants all
men to be saved!"107 |
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It is
important to recognize that the Arminian idea of a sufficient grace given to
all men without exception is not taught anywhere in Scripture, but rather
logically flows from their concept of conditional election and a universal atonement.
If God is doing everything within His power to save all men, and if Christ
died a sacrificial death for all men, then it is argued that the Holy Spirit
must also work equally upon all men to save them. What makes the difference
as to who is saved and who is not is the cooperation of the human will. Each
person has the ability to reject God's special grace or to act upon it and be
saved. |
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The
problems that arise from the Arminian concept of sufficient grace are
manifold. First, it cannot be reconciled with the total depravity and total
inability of unregenerate man. The Bible teaches that man is either
spiritually dead or spiritually alive. Sufficient grace cannot be made
efficient by an act of the will if the will is spiritually dead and unwilling.
For grace to be sufficient toward a spiritual corpse, it must also be
efficacious. "A living man may be persuaded not to commit suicide; but a
dead man cannot be persuaded into life."108 The Bible teaches that only regeneration
can enable a person to repent and believe. Second, the Arminian concept of a
resistible special grace necessitates radically altering the doctrine of
Christ's atonement. The Arminian is forced to argue that no causal and
meritorious relationship exists between Christ's redemptive work and the
application of His sacrifice to those for whom He died. He must deny that
Christ, by His suffering and death, procured regeneration and "merited
faith and repentance for those who come at length to believe and repent."109 (As noted in the chapter on limited
atonement, Arminians severely limit the power of Christ's death to save.)
Third, the Arminian idea that man must cooperate with grace in order to be
saved has led to a complete redefinition of the doctrine of regeneration. If
the Bible teaches that regeneration is solely an act of God in which man does
not cooperate, then the idea that man allows God to regenerate people by an
act of the will must be rejected. To argue that the first stage of
regeneration is a work caused by man or partly by man and partly by God is a
dangerous heresy. It is an explicit denial of the "necessity of an
internal work of supernatural grace to conversion and the production of
faith."110
It is man who must
repent and believe in Christ. But if repentance and faith are not gifts of
God produced by the Holy Spirit's power, then faith becomes a work and not a
product of pure grace. "According to the Arminian system it depends upon
the free-will of the man to make the sufficient grace of God common to all
men efficient in his case. But the Scriptures declare that salvation is
altogether of grace, and a gift of God.–Eph. ii. 8; 2 Tim. ii. 25; Rom. ix.
15, 16."111 |
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Fourth, the Arminian idea that sufficient grace is given to all men is absurd
given the fact that very few people throughout the world have had any
opportunity to hear the gospel. In fact, in the past two thousand years only
a tiny fraction of the world's population has heard the gospel. If God is
trying to save every human being, and has given sufficient grace to everyone,
why would He not make provisions for all men without exception to hear the
external call of the gospel? God could raise up one hundred thousand apostle
Pauls if He wanted to. But He has not. Arminians, in their attempt to fit
God's plan of salvation into their concept of fairness, have presented God as
an incompetent. God makes provisions in one area but forgets about another area.
A humanistic, non-scriptural standard of fairness always leads logically down
the road toward universalism. Both the Romish church and some prominent
Evangelicals (e.g., Billy Graham) have already abandoned the scriptural
doctrine that Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain eternal life. |
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Fifth, the Arminian position contradicts the express teaching of Scripture,
which says "that not even all who receive the external call have
sufficient grace."112 When Paul explained why most of ethnic
Israel rejected the gospel he said, "Israel has not obtained what it
seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened. Just as it
is written: 'God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not
see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day'" (Rom.
11:7-8). Did God give the Israelites who rejected Jesus Christ sufficient
grace to believe? Absolutely not! Rather than counteracting their depravity,
inability and hatred of Jesus, God hardened them (v. 7, cf. Rom. 9:16-24; Jn.
10:26-27; Isa. 6:9-10; Mk. 4:12; Lk. 8:10). Jesus did not teach a sufficient grace to all, but
an efficient grace to some. "Why do you not understand My speech?
Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of you father the
devil.... He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear,
because you are not of God" (Jn. 8:43-44, 47). When Paul discusses the
heathen in Romans 1:18-20 and 2:12-15 he says that they are responsible
because of the general revelation in nature. He declares that they are under
a law of works, yet says nothing about a universal sufficient grace.113 |
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Girardeau points out the absurdity and impossibility of the Arminian doctrine
of sufficient grace: "The Evangelical Arminian not only admits the fact,
but contends for it, that every man in his natural fallen condition is
spiritually dead–is dead in trespasses and sins. The problem for him to solve
is, How can this spiritually dead man make his possible salvation an actual
salvation? It must not be done by the impartation to him of efficacious and
determining grace, for to admit that would be to give up the doctrine of a
possible salvation and accept that of a decreed and certain salvation. Nor
must it be done by regenerating grace, for two difficulties oppose that
supposition: first, this regenerating grace would necessarily be efficacious
and determining grace; and secondly, it could not with truth be maintained
that every man is regenerated. A degree of grace, therefore, which is short
of regenerating grace, must be conferred upon every man. What is that?
Sufficient grace–that is to say, a degree of grace imparting ability
sufficient to enable every man to make a possible salvation actually his own.
Now, the argument is short: a degree of grace which does not regenerate,
would be a degree of grace which does not bestow life upon, the spiritually
dead sinner. If it did infuse spiritual life it would of course be
regenerating grace; but it is denied to be regenerating grace. No other grace
would be sufficient for the dead sinner but regenerating or life giving
grace. How could grace enable the dead sinner to perform living functions–to
repent, to believe in Christ, to embrace salvation–without first giving him
life? In a word, sufficient grace which is not regenerating grace is a
palpable impossibility. An ability sufficient to enable the dead sinner to
discharge living functions but not sufficient to make him live, is an
impossibility. The Arminian is therefore shut up to a choice between two
alternatives: either, he must confess sufficient grace to be regenerating
grace, and then he abandons his doctrine; or, he must maintain that grace is
sufficient for a dead sinner which does not make him live, and then he
asserts an impossibility."114 |
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The Calvinistic doctrine of
efficacious grace can be understood only if one has a correct understanding
of total depravity and the doctrine of regeneration. As noted in the chapter
on total depravity, man is not
in a state in which he can cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Man is dead
spiritually (Eph. 2:1-5). He hates the truth and Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:19-21),
dwells in darkness (Jn. 1:4-5), has an uncircumcised heart of stone (Ezek.
11:19), is helpless (Ezek. 16:4-6), cannot repent (Jer. 13:23), is a slave to
Satan (Ac. 26:17-18), and cannot see or comprehend divine truth (1 Cor.
2:14). Can a spiritual corpse cooperate with grace? Can a person who is blind
and deaf to spiritual truth embrace it? Can someone who hates Jesus Christ
because he is born at enmity with God change his own nature? Can a person of
his own free will hate that which he naturally loves and love that which he
naturally hates? "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his
spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil" (Jer.
13:23). Because man is spiritually dead, only a radical, all-pervasive change
in man's heart can enable him to embrace Jesus Christ. In order for God's grace
to be sufficient for any man, it must be efficacious. Only the power of God
working directly upon the human soul can infuse it with new life. Sinful man
does not need some assistance to save himself, but a spiritual resurrection,
a total work of renovation. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who
sent Me draws him.... No one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him
by My Father" (Jn. 6:44, 65). |
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If men are dead spiritually,
only those whom God sovereignly chooses to regenerate will repent and trust
Christ. The idea that men cooperate with God in regeneration is as absurd as
teaching that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead because his corpse was
willing to be raised. Some misunderstanding regarding regeneration is
understandable given the fact that regeneration has two different senses in
the New Testament. Sometimes it refers to the whole conversion process in
which the reborn heart comes in contact with the word and is first called
into action. Passages such as 1 Peter 1:23 and James 1:18 discuss the
regenerate heart as it comes in contact with the Word of God and issues forth
into conversion. "This is the effectual calling through the
instrumentality of the word of preaching, effectively applied by the Spirit of
God. This effectual calling finally secures, through the truth as a means,
the first holy exercises of the new disposition that is born to the soul. The
new life begins to manifest itself, the implanted life issues in the new
birth."115
Arminians often quote passages which discuss the second stage of regeneration
in which God employs means (the preaching of the gospel) to argue that the
Holy Spirit uses moral suasion upon man's will to get him to cooperate with
grace and choose Christ. |
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This
interpretation, however, ignores the other sense in which regeneration is
used in the Bible. During the first stage in regeneration the Holy Spirit
works without means;
that is, He works directly upon the soul apart from the preaching of the
Word. The Holy Spirit comes to a man who is dead, blind, and deaf to
spiritual truth and quickens him, implanting new life into the dead heart.
The inner disposition of the soul is renewed and made holy. "In this act
of God the ear is implanted that enables man to hear the call of God to the
salvation of his soul. This is regeneration in the most restricted sense
of the word. In it man
is entirely passive."116 The first stage of regeneration can be
compared to the implantation of a seed, and the second stage could be
compared to the process of giving birth. Regeneration in the strict sense
logically precedes or is coterminous with the preaching of the gospel because
the gospel cannot have persuasive power over a corpse. "Men see by the
light. Without light vision is impossible. Yet the eyes of the blind are not
opened by means of the light. In like manner all the states and acts of
consciousness preceding or attending, or following regeneration, are by the
truth; but regeneration itself, or the imparting spiritual life, is by the
immediate agency of the Spirit."117 Once God opens the heart through
regeneration, the regenerated person can and will believe the gospel.
"The Lord opened her [Lydia's] heart to heed the things spoken of by
Paul" (Ac. 16:14). |
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The first stage of
regeneration is solely
an act of God in which man does not cooperate. Jesus said, "The wind blows where it
wishes, and you hear
the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is
everyone who is born of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:8). "When we examine the
words of our Lord in John 3, there can be doubt but that He taught that God
the Holy Spirit is the ultimate origin, source and author of regeneration. To
Him belongs the glory and power forevermore. In regeneration, we must view
God as being active while sinners must be viewed as totally passive. Thus
regeneration is not a cooperative program between God and man. God alone regenerates, and He does so without
the work, help or even consent of sinners."118 |
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That
regeneration in the strict sense of the term is not a cooperative process
between man and God is clearly taught throughout Scripture. Paul wrote:
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His
mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Tit. 3:5).
God sprinkles clean water upon the human heart, cleansing it (Ezek. 36:25).
The Holy Spirit removes the heart of stone that cannot respond to spiritual
truth and replaces it with a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:25). Jesus described
the new birth as being "born of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:5-6). The terms
used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of man all
describe a miracle of God. They all point to a spiritual resurrection. Men
are "born again" (Jn 3:3), "regenerated" (Tit. 3:5),
"made alive" or "quickened" (Eph. 2:5). The person regenerated
is called a "new creation" (Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17) and a "new
man" (Eph. 4:24). "These terms denote a work of omnipotent power.
The origination of life is impossible to the creature. He can receive life;
he can nurture life; and he can use and exert life. But he cannot create
life."119 |
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Men
can preach effectively and use all the persuasive power that they can muster
to convince people to believe in Christ. But only the Holy Spirit can enable
a person to believe. Only God's regenerating power causes the church to grow.
Paul wrote: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So
neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the
increase" (1 Cor. 3:6-7). "As in nature, planting and watering are
not the efficient causes of vegetation; so in the church, ministerial acts
are not the efficient causes of grace. In both cases all the efficiency is of
God."120 |
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In
John 3:3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that "unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God," the word translated "again" (anothen) should be translated from above. Although the Greek word can be
translated "again" (palin anothen, Gal. 4:9) every other passage that
uses this word in John (3:31; 19:11, 23) is translated from above. This is also the preferred meaning in
the synoptic gospels (e.g., Mk. 15:38). "It is a second birth to be
sure, regeneration, but a birth from above by the Spirit."121 Regeneration comes from heaven, that
is, from God. The book of James uses this word in the same manner:
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of
lights" (Jas. 1:17; cf. 3:15). |
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The
apostle John explicitly taught that man has nothing to do with his own or anyone
else's regeneration. "Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God" (Jn. 1:13). John said that
the new birth is "not of blood," that is, it has nothing to do with
one's blood line, heredity or race. This view was the common error of the
Jews. He also said: "nor of the will of the flesh." "That
which is born of the flesh is flesh" (Jn. 3:6). The natural or fleshly
man can only act according to his depraved, corrupt nature. He is blind to
spiritual truth, hates God and is opposed to divine truth. The fleshly man
cannot initiate the first move toward God unless God first changes his heart.
This phrase drives a stake through all synergistic views of regeneration. He
continued: "nor of the will of man." The new birth is not brought
into existence by the persuasive power of friends; the great technique of the
preacher or the soft mood of the organ music. The new birth is solely a
divine work. The Greek says: "but of God were born." The but is emphatic, emphasizing the contrast
between all forms of human effort with the regenerating power of God. |
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Paul
said that "no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy
Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). Luke declared that "as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed" (Ac. 13:48). The apostle John wrote: "But
you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things" (I Jn.
1:20). Why is one person saved and another left in darkness? Because one is
regenerated by the Spirit and another is passed by. "For who makes you
differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if
you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?" (1
Cor. 4:7). "Man needs for God to draw him irresistibly by His grace, or
man will never make so much as a single step in the direction of
Christ."122
This is the express teaching of Christ: "No one can come to Me unless
the Father who sent Me draws him" (Jn. 6:44). |
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When
Jesus Christ declared to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the Spirit is
spirit" (Jn. 3:6), He was telling Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit was the
author of regeneration and that the regenerated person has become a
spiritual person.
"The spiritual man has a spiritual mind, he is possessed with a Person
who indwells, seals, intercedes, and empowers."123 The person who is regenerated has
spiritual reality opened up to him. When he reads or hears biblical truth he
knows that it is true and immediately believes in Jesus Christ. The regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit enables the sinner to see, hear and live; therefore,
after regeneration the sinner can repent and turn to Christ. Conversion is
the fruit, not the cause, of regeneration. "Now we have received, not
the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might
know the things that
have been freely given to us by God" (1 Cor. 2:12). Without this
spiritual renewal, which is purely a gift of God dependent upon nothing that
we do, no one would turn to Christ. "For it is the God who commanded
light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). |
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If
you are a Christian, it is because God renewed your heart, enabling you to believe in Jesus Christ. Why
did Lydia believe in the gospel preached by the apostle Paul? Because God
first opened her heart
and enabled her to respond
to the gospel. Paul "sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now
a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the
city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the
things spoken of by Paul" (Ac. 16:13-14). Those who pervert the biblical
doctrine of regeneration are guilty of serious error. Because God alone deserves the credit and the glory for
man's salvation, "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jon. 2:9). |
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Because men are dead in trespasses and sins and unable to comprehend divine
truth (1 Cor. 2:14), the Holy Spirit must do a recreative work upon man's
heart in order for him to comprehend and believe the gospel. Jesus said,
"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see
[comprehend, perceive] the kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:3). "Christ
places regeneration by the Spirit as a requirement before one can
"see," i.e., believe, or have faith in the Kingdom of God. He
states quite emphatically that a sinner who is born of the flesh cannot
believe the good news of the kingdom until he is born by the Spirit. Thus,
according to the teaching of Christ, we believe because we are "born again." We are
not "born again" because we believe!"124 |
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Why
do most evangelicals and fundamentalists, who have such a high view of
Scripture, err so badly on such an important aspect of Christian doctrine?
The answer lies in their idea that not even God can do anything to directly
change the human will. Although it is true that their doctrine of the new
birth flows from their defective understanding of the fall and Christ's redemptive
work, the foundational reason for their error is their exaltation of the
human will above even God's will. They regard the Calvinistic view that God
works directly upon the human heart, changing it in a God-ward direction, to
be a coercive violation of man's free will. The Arminian recognizes that once
he accepts the idea that God has the power to work directly upon the human
heart so that a person will definitely embrace Jesus Christ, his whole
paradigm of the salvation process is at once disproved and overthrown. Why?
Because this would mean that it is God and not man who determines who is and
who is not saved; that God is not trying to save all men, for He obviously
does not regenerate all men. "A man can receive nothing unless it has
been given to him from heaven" (Jn. 3:27). "Only those views which
ascribe to God all
the power in the salvation of sinners are consistently evangelical, for the
word 'evangelical' means that it is God alone who saves. If faith and
obedience must be added, depending upon the independent choice of man, we no
longer have evangelicalism."125 |
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Are the Arminians correct when
they argue that God cannot directly change the human heart, or that God must
first get permission from sinful man to change him? The Arminian position is
totally contrary to the explicit teaching of Scripture. There are many
passages which teach that God is sovereign over man's heart and will (cf. Pr.
16:1, 9, 21; Ex. 10:1, 20; Dt. 2:30; Josh. 11:19, 20; Jer. 32:40; Ezek. 1:1,
5; Lk. 24:45; Jn. 12:39, 40; Ac. 16:14; Rom. 9:18-21; Phil. 2:13; 2 Th. 2:11,
12; Rev. 17:17). Also, the descriptions of the new birth given in the Bible
are descriptions of God directly changing the human heart. "And the Lord
you God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love
the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may
live" (Dt. 30:16). "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put
a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and
give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in My statutes and keep My
judgments and do them" (Ezek. 11:19-20). "I will put My law in
their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people" (Jer. 7:33). "I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you
to walk in My statutes" (Ezek. 36:26-27). God quickens or renews the
human heart. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation" (Gal. 6:15). "Not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
through the washing
of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Spirit" (Tit. 3:5). The Holy Spirit circumcises the heart.
"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses" (Col. 2:13). "In Him you were circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands" (Col. 2:11). |
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Regeneration is an act of God upon man's heart. "The Holy Spirit comes
and does something to the soul of man.... He penetrates into the innermost
recesses of man, into his soul, spirit, or heart."126 The biblical use of the word
"heart" is different than today's English usage. In the Bible,
"heart" represents every aspect of man's nature, including the
intellect, will, and emotions. Because man's heart is spiritually dead,
blind, deaf, and totally depraved, only an act of God upon the whole
nature of man is
sufficient to draw him in a God-ward direction. This change is somewhat
mysterious. Clearly it does not involve a metaphysical change in man's being.
That is, his substance or essence is not changed. Furthermore, it does make a
person sinless or perfect. Even the best Christians, such as the apostle
Paul, had to struggle against sin and temptation (Rom. 7:15, 25). In an
instantaneous act, the Holy Spirit implants in man the principle of a new,
spiritual life. |
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All
the words used in the Bible to describe regeneration show us that there are
two primary aspects of regeneration: purification and renewal. The internal
purification of the sinner is represented by the terms and phrases "born
of water" (Jn. 3:5), "the washing of regeneration" (Tit. 3:5),
"I will sprinkle clean water…I will cleanse you" (Ezek. 36:25),
"the circumcision made without hands" (Col. 2:11), and the removal
of the "heart of stone" (Ezek. 36:26). This aspect is essentially
negative. The heart must be purified from the defilement of sin. Sprinkling
with water and the washing with water in the Old Testament symbolically
represented God's internal purification of the sinner. Circumcision also
symbolized the removal of the filth of the flesh. Men need a circumcision of
the heart (cf. Dt. 10:16; 30:6; Lev. 26:41; Jer. 9:26). The removal of the
heart of stone represents the removal of the natural man's unresponsiveness to
divine truth. Before one plants a garden, the soil must first be prepared.
The weeds, thornbushes, hardpan and stones must first be removed before
planting the seed. Likewise, the Holy Spirit must change man's heart before
the gospel can take root and grow. "Our natural hearts are hearts of
stone. The word of God is good seed sown on the hard, trodden, macadamized
highway, which the horses of passion, the asses of self will, the wagons of
imaginary treasure, have made impenetrable. Only the Holy Spirit can soften
and pulverize this soil."127 |
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The
positive aspect of regeneration is the spiritual renovation of man's heart.
The scriptural terms and phrases used to describe the renovatory aspect are
"born again" (Jn. 3:3), "regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Spirit" (Tit. 3:5), "made alive" or "quickened"
(Eph. 2:5), and "born of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:5-6). The regenerated
person is called a "new creation" (Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17) and a
"new man" (Eph. 4:24). This aspect is represented in the heart of
stone becoming a heart of flesh (Ezek. 32:2) and the uncircumcised heart
becoming a circumcised heart (Col. 2:11). All the terms used to describe the
renovatory aspect of regeneration point to the impartation of spiritual
ability, life and enlightenment. Shedd wrote: "Regeneration as the
creative and life giving act of God produces an effect on the human understanding. It is 'illumination': 'enlightening
the mind,' Westminster L.C., 67.... 'The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened,' Eph. 1:18. Phil 1:9. Coloss. 3:10. I John 4:7; 5:20. John 17:3.
Ps. 19:7, 8; 43:3, 4. The distinguishing peculiarity of the knowledge
produced by regeneration is, that it is experimental."128 |
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The reason that God's grace is
effectual or irresistible is that the Holy Spirit imparts an inclination to
holiness in the human heart. Man's heart is changed in such a way that the
unwilling become willing. The person who is regenerated by the Holy Spirit
embraces Jesus Christ because he wants to. Shedd wrote: "In the Scripture phraseology, he
is 'made willing,' Ps. 110:3. God 'works in him to will,' Phil. 2:13. In the
phraseology of the Westminster statement (L.C., 67), he is 'powerfully
determined.' By renewing the sinful and self-enslaved will, the Holy Spirit
empowers it to self-determine or incline to God as the chief good and the
supreme end."129 The old heart which hated Jesus Christ
and considered spiritual matters to be foolishness (1 Cor. 2:14) is replaced
with a new heart which is spiritual, which is deeply concerned about
spiritual affairs. After a person is regenerated, Christ becomes the most
important person in his life. The Savior becomes to him like a hidden
treasure and a pearl of great price (Mt. 13:44, 46). Because the heart is
made spiritual it desires and loves "the things of the Spirit."
"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not
subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the
flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" (Rom. 8:6-9). God doesn't put a
gun to man's head and coerce him into the kingdom; rather, He changes him
internally so that he voluntarily chooses Christ.130 The human will always acts in accordance with the human
heart. |
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Regeneration, in its strictest
sense, refers solely to the Holy Spirit's work in the sub-conscious life of
man: "by a creative word God generates the new life, changing the inner
disposition of the soul, illuminating the mind, rousing the feelings, and
renewing the will. In this act of God the ear is implanted that enables man
to hear the call of God to the salvation of his soul."131 Regeneration in its broadest sense
refers to what occurs when the regenerated heart comes in contact with the
gospel and the Holy Spirit effectively applies God's word to the mind.
"Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible,
through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Pet. 1:23).
"Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might
be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (Jas. 1:18). With
regeneration the dead sinner is quickened, enabled and disposed toward divine
truth. However, not only is the person regenerated by God enabled and made
willing, he also is actively
drawn toward the truth. Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the
Father who sent Me draws
him" (Jn. 6:44). Hendriksen wrote: "When Jesus refers to the divine
drawing activity, he employs a term which clearly indicates that more than
moral influence is indicated. The Father does not merely beckon or advise, he
draws! The same
verb elko, elkuo
occurs also in 12:32, where the activity is ascribed to the Son; and further,
in 18:10; 21:6, 11; Acts 16:19; 21:30; and Jas. 2:6. The drawing of which these
passages speak indicates a very powerful–we may even say, an
irresistible–activity. To be sure, man resists, but his resistance is
ineffective. It is in that sense that we speak of God's grace as being
irresistible. The net full of big fishes is actually drawn or dragged ashore
(21:6, 11). Paul and Silas are dragged into the forum (Acts 16:19). Paul is
dragged out of the temple (Acts 21:30). The rich drag the poor before the
judgment-seats (Jas. 2:6). Returning now to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus will draw
all men to himself (12:32) and Simon drew his sword, striking the high
priest's servant, cutting off his right ear (18:10). To be sure, there is a
difference between the drawing of a net or a sword, on the one hand, and of a
sinner, on the other. With the latter God deals as with a responsible being.
He powerfully influences the mind, will, heart, and entire personality.
These, too, begin to function in their own right, so that Christ is accepted
by a living faith. But both at the beginning and throughout the entire
process of being saved, the power is ever from above; it is very real,
strong, and effective; and it is wielded by God himself!"132 |
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In
regeneration in the broader sense the implantation of the incorruptible seed,
the changing of the heart, the drawing power of the triune God, and the
external call of the gospel all come together and give birth to the converted
soul. Except in the case of elect infants, elect imbeciles, and John the
Baptist (Lk. 1:41-44) regeneration always accompanies either the preached
word, the written word, or an intellectual knowledge of the gospel held in
the mind received in the past. There are people who hear or read the gospel
who immediately are regenerated and saved, and there are people who hear the
gospel for years and know it intellectually but who are not saved until the
Holy Spirit comes and opens their eyes spiritually. There are examples of
people who were raised in godly Christian homes who had memorized many
Scripture passages and the Shorter Catechism, who had an excellent
intellectual grasp of the gospel but who were not regenerated and thus did
not believe until their mid-twenties. God sovereignly controls not only who
is and who is not saved, but also the exact time a person is converted. |
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The biblical doctrine of
regeneration teaches that not only what Christ has accomplished for us objectively through His sinless
life and atoning death is a free gift of God, but also what the Holy Spirit
accomplishes in us
subjectively (regeneration and its fruits) is a free gift of God. Salvation,
from start to finish, is a work of God. If faith in Christ and repentance are
something that man can do apart
from regenerating grace, then salvation is not wholly a work of God. Those
who believed in Christ and repented by their own power would have reason to
boast. They could say, "I was wise enough to choose Christ, I was moral
enough to repent." But the Bible teaches that regeneration is wholly a
work of the Holy Spirit, and that faith and repentance are gifts from God.133 "For by grace you have been saved
though faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good
pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it" (Phil. 1:6).
"For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also
to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1:29). "Him God has exalted to His
right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins" (Ac. 5:31). "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life" (Ac. 11:18). "In humility
correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know
the truth" (2 Tim. 2:25). Those who believe in Jesus Christ do so only
because they were ordained–or appointed to–eternal life. Only the elect
receive God's regenerating power. "And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Ac.
13:48). |
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1. The Bible teaches that
people are saved when they believe in Jesus Christ. If regeneration logically
precedes belief, doesn't that imply that a person is saved by regeneration
rather than by Christ? No, not at all. Regeneration and all the saving graces
flow from a vital union between Christ and His people during Christ's life,
death and resurrection. Paul said, "But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-6). God only regenerates those who
were united with Christ in His death and resurrection. The elect are
regenerated because they partake of the resurrected life from Christ. Jesus
said, "Because I live, you will live also" (Jn. 14:19). "I am
the resurrection and the life" (Jn. 11:25). Paul said, "We shall be
saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10). "The first man Adam became a living
being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).
"Your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). |
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The
idea that Christ died and rose for all men without exception, and that Christ
is now sitting in heaven waiting to see who chooses Him and who rejects Him
is contrary to Scripture. Jesus is in heaven, but He is actively interceding
and saving His elect throughout history. "As You have given Him
authority over all flesh, that He should given eternal life to as many as You
have given Him" (Jn. 17:2). It is true that a person is not justified
until he believes in Christ. But a person will not believe until Christ sends
His Holy Spirit to regenerate his heart and enable him to believe. Christ
does this only for those who were united to Him in His death and
resurrection–the elect. "All the people of Christ are the 'first born'
children of God, through their union with Him who is The Firstborn par
excellence."134 |
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2.
What about the passages which speak of people who resist the Holy Spirit?
Doesn't this imply that people can successfully resist the grace of God?
There is no question that the Bible speaks of people who resist the Holy
Spirit. But does this mean that people can successfully resist the Holy
Spirit's regenerating power?
A brief look at a passage often quoted by Arminians against the Calvinistic
doctrine of efficacious grace will prove that the passages which speak of
resisting the Holy Spirit have nothing to do with regeneration. "You
stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy
Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Ac. 7:51). |
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This
passage teaches that the resistance made by those Jews was not toward a work
of the Holy Spirit in them,
but to the external
work of the Spirit. The passage says that these Jews were not regenerated. That is exactly what the
phrase "uncircumcised in heart and ears" means. Verses 52 and 53
show what is meant by resisting the Holy Spirit. They persecuted and killed
the prophets; that is, they emphatically rejected the inspired preaching of
Stephen, and also murdered him (v. 59). They betrayed and murdered the Son of
God (v. 52). They received the law but did not obey it (v. 53). In verse 51
they are called "stiffnecked." This word is used of oxen who refuse
to obey the command of the master. These Jews had the external covenant sign
of circumcision, but they lacked the circumcision of the heart, that is, the
internal work of grace. Anyone who resists the preaching of the gospel and
refuses to obey it resists the Holy Spirit. They oppose the Holy Spirit who
is "the divine author of all revelation whether history or prophecy, doctrine
or precept, law or gospel."135 |
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The
whole idea that this and other passages teach that the Holy Spirit is working
internally upon
people, attempting to save them, but that they prevent the Spirit from doing
so by their own will is most absurd, especially considering the many passages
which teach the opposite. The Bible does not teach that the Holy Spirit is
working hard to save the non-elect; on the contrary, it says that He hardens
them. "Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have
obtained it, and the rest were hardened. Just as it is written: God has given them a spirit of
stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to
this very day" (Rom. 11:7-8). "Therefore He has mercy on whom He
wills, and whom He wills He hardens" (Rom. 9:18). |
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One of the doctrines of
sovereign grace is the perseverance of the saints. This doctrine refers to
the biblical teaching which says that those whom God loved before the
foundation of the world and chose in Christ, who are regenerated by the Holy
Spirit and truly believe in Jesus Christ as He is presented in the
Scriptures, will be preserved by God their entire lives until death, and
therefore cannot lose their salvation. They are eternally saved. This does
not mean that true believers cannot backslide and commit grievous sins. They
sometimes do, but they cannot "totally nor finally fall away from the
state of grace."136 "It is certain that true
believers may fall into very great sins; but yet they shall be recovered and
brought again to repentance."137 |
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Since the word perseverance
has been misunderstood, it should be noted that believers persevere only
because God preserves His people. In other words, people are ultimately saved
not because of their own efforts at perseverance, but they persevere because
of God's grace. God maintains a believer's faith, orthodoxy and repentance.
The Confession of Faith emphasizes this point: "This perseverance of the
saints depends, not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of
the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God
the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ;
the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the nature
of the covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty and
infallibility thereof."138 |
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It is
God's covenant love, faithfulness and sovereign power which guarantee that
none of God's children will perish. If believers were left by God to their
own power, they all would certainly apostatize from the faith. Thomas Ridgely
writes: "God is styled 'the preserver of men' [Job 7:20], inasmuch as he
upholds all things by the word of his power, so that independency on him is
inconsistent with the idea of our being creatures; and we have no less ground
to conclude that his power maintains the new creature, or that grace which
took its rise from him. Should he fail or forsake us, we could not put forth
the least act of grace, much less persevere in grace. When man at first came
out of the hands of God, he was endowed with a greater ability to stand than
any one, excepting our Saviour, has been favoured with since sin entered into
the world; yet he apostatized, not from any necessity of nature, but by
adhering to that temptation which he might have withstood. Then how unable is
he to stand in his present state, having become weak, and, though brought
into a state of grace, having been renewed and sanctified only in part, and
having still the remains of corruption, which maintain a constant opposition
to the principle of grace? Our perseverance in grace, therefore, cannot be
owing to ourselves."139 |
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The doctrine of the
perseverance of the saints logically flows from the doctrines of
unconditional election, irresistible grace, total depravity, and limited
atonement. If God is sovereign, as the Bible teaches and Calvinists assert,
then God can and will preserve those whom He set His infinite and eternal
love upon. The Arminian rejects all the doctrines mentioned above, because
his whole theological system rotates around the axis of the alleged free will
of man. God is said to elect only those who are foreseen to voluntarily
accept Christ. Christ is said to have died for all men without exception.
They assert that His death has not actually secured or guaranteed the salvation
of any one person, but has only made salvation possible to all. Furthermore,
they teach that the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit operates equally
upon all, and that the reason one person is born again and another is not is
simply that one person cooperated with the Holy Spirit, while the other
successfully resisted Him. The Arminian makes the Father's choice of the
elect, the redemptive work of the Son, and the application of Christ's work
by the Holy Spirit all contingent upon and limited by man's free will or
voluntary reception of grace. Since man and not God is the one who
sovereignly decides who will and who will not be saved, it logically follows
that man's free will also determines who perseveres and who rejects the
faith. "The Protestant Arminians also hold that it is not only possible,
but also a frequent fact, that persons truly regenerate, by neglecting grace
and grieving the Holy Spirit with sin, fall away totally, and at length
finally, from grace into eternal reprobation. Conf. of the Remonstrants, xi.
7."140
The Arminian "places the cause of his perseverance, not in the hands of
an all-powerful, never-changing God, but in the hands of weak sinful
man."141 |
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Before moving on to the scriptural and doctrinal proofs for perseverance and
the objections to the doctrine, a few serious problems regarding the Arminian
system should be noted. First, the Arminian scheme places man's trust and
hope for perseverance and salvation more upon man than upon Jesus Christ. Man ultimately must look
to himself for salvation. Christ did His part, but if man does not keep his
own will in line and keep his own repentance up, he will be lost. The
Arminian thus has reason to boast before God: "I persevered but others
did not. I made the right choices. I exercised my will righteously, but
others did not." In such a system God must share His glory with sinful
man. Note: consistent Arminianism is nothing less than a rejection of
salvation by grace alone. Second, if God is not the one who preserves His
saints because such a preservation would violate man's free will, then how
are the saints in heaven preserved? The Arminian must admit that either God
has the power to change a person's nature and will in heaven to make man
incapable of sinning, or that a second fall or rebellion of man against God
is possible in the eternal state. If God is capable of controlling man's will
in heaven and preserving the redeemed for eternity, why is He incapable or
unwilling to preserve His dear children for their short habitation on earth?
Third, how is the Arminian supposed to have peace and not worry (cf. Mt. 6:25
ff.; Phil. 4:6-7) when his eternal destiny is dependent upon his weak, sinful
will? Given the fact that doctrinal and ethical apostasy are quite common in
our day, one would think that a self-conscious Arminian would either be
wallowing in the pride of self-confidence or be a nervous wreck. "To me
such a doctrine has terrors which would cause me to shrink away from it forever,
and which would fill me with constant and unspeakable perplexities. To feel
that I were crossing the troubled and dangerous sea of life dependent for my
final security upon the actings of my own treacherous nature were enough to
fill me with a perpetual alarm."142 But take comfort, dear Christian:
Arminianism is unscriptural! God's love cannot fail. |
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In
order to understand God's preservation of His people one must first examine
the passages which specifically teach the preservation of the saints–that
none of those who belong to Christ can perish. Various doctrines which
support perseverance will be examined, then the objections to perseverance
will be refuted. |
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Psalm 37:28. "For the Lord loves justice, and
does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever, but the descendants
of the wicked shall be cut off." Plumer writes: "God's people are
surrounded by walls of fire, by a heavenly host, by the infinite care of God.
They are kept as
the apple of God's eye, Ps. xvii. 8."143 "He will preserve them to his
heavenly kingdom; that is a preservation for ever, 2 Tim. iv. 18; Ps.
12:7."144 |
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Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22. "For false christs and false prophets will arise and
show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the
elect." The obvious implication of this passage is that it is impossible
for a false prophet or false christ to deceive one of the elect. Jesus said
that His "sheep hear his voice" (Jn. 10:3); they "follow him,
for they know his voice" (Jn. 10:4). But "they will by no means
follow a stranger, but will flee from him" (Jn. 10:5). The elect cannot
fall into apostasy or any damnable heresy, for "he who is spiritual
judges all things" (1 Cor. 2:15). The apostle John says that true
believers will not leave the body of Christ because "you have an anointing
from the Holy One, and you know all things" (I Jn. 2:20; cf. 2:27). |
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The doctrine of the
perseverance of the saints is not only explicitly taught in Scripture, but also
logically proceeds from other biblical doctrines. What follows is a brief
examination of some of the doctrines which have a direct relationship to
God's preservation of the elect. |
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The many passages already
considered that prove God's preservation of His people show that it is God's
sovereign power which protects His sheep. If one accepts the biblical
teaching regarding God's sovereignty, then one must accept the preservation
of the saints or reject God's love toward the elect. Since the Bible teaches
that God controls the human heart (Pr. 16:1; 19:21; 21:1; Dt. 2:30; Josh.
11:19-20; Ex. 10:1, 20; Rev. 17:17; etc.) and all the circumstances and
events that occur in a believer's life, then it logically follows that a
believer could only apostatize from the faith if God wanted him to
apostatize. |
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The
Arminian who does not accept God's absolute control of the human heart still
cannot escape from this logical dilemma, for Arminians still believe that God
has a perfect foreknowledge of all events. The Arminian would admit that God
knows the exact time that a Christian is going to apostatize and the specific
events which will lead to the Christian's apostasy. If God loves His children
infinitely more than an earthly father does or could, why would He not take a
believer home before he apostatizes? Would it not be better to die of a heart
attack, brain aneurysm, or car accident than spend eternity in hell? Also,
why would God allow one of His beloved children to enter into a circumstance
of life that He knew would lead to eternal destruction? The Arminian can only
escape this argument by choosing among three different options, all of which
are patently unbiblical. The first option is that God knows the future but is
powerless to intervene in human affairs. This option is the old heresy of
Deism. The second option is that God's knowledge is finite and bound by time.
In other words, God is not responsible because He doesn't know the future.
This view is so obviously heretical that no real Christian would even
consider it. The third option is that God is sovereign and infallibly knows
the future, but doesn't really love His children. He doesn't care if they
reject the faith and go to hell. The problem with this view is that the Bible
teaches that God loves His people with a perfect, infinite and eternal love.
The idea that God would send His only begotten Son to suffer, be tortured,
and die an agonizing death on the cross for a person and then not even bother
to protect that person (as if God was an unloving and careless Father)
borders on blasphemy. |
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The Bible teaches that God's
love for the elect does not change and cannot be destroyed. It is God's love
for the elect which sent Jesus Christ to the cross and which guarantees that
He will not allow any of His children to perish. "Yes, I have loved you
with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn
you" (Jer. 7:3). This passage intimates "that the love is that which
was from everlasting, his drawing them or bringing them into a converted
state being the result of it, it follows that this everlasting love is the
same as his eternal purpose or design to save them. Now, if there be such an
eternal purpose relating to their salvation, it necessarily [implies] their
perseverance."159 |
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The
apostle Paul says that nothing created can separate the elect from God's
love. This obviously includes the human will (unless one believes the
unbiblical notion of an eternal pre-existence of souls). Paul wrote: "If
God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us
all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who
justifies.... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword?... For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height
nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:31-33, 35, 38-39). "The
apostle has been comprehensive in the catalogue he gives, and the reason is
to establish universality. But this concluding negation is for the purpose of
leaving no loophole–no being or thing in the whole realm of created reality
is excluded."160 Thus the elect are totally secure.
God's love for them cannot diminish, stop, or turn to hate. |
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One
must understand that God's love is not dependent upon anything in the elect.
It is a love that arises from God's own nature and is directed to an
undeserving, wicked, unlovely people. "In this was love, not that we
loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins" (1 Jn. 4:10). The only reason "we love Him" is that
"He first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19). Paul says in Romans 8:29 that
those whom God foreknew or "loved beforehand" are the ones
predestined to eternal life. They are called, justified and glorified. This
unbreakable chain in a believer's salvation all flows from the love and
compassion of the Father. Paul speaks "of distinguishing love that
predestinates to a determined end–conformity to the image of His Son.
Ephesians 1:4-5 is to the same effect. God chose a people in Christ and in
love predestined them unto adoption through Jesus Christ."161 If God's love for the elect arises
from God Himself and is eternal and immutable, it logically follows that it
cannot fail. If His electing and preserving love was dependent upon anything
within the creature, then salvation by grace is dead and Christians have
reason to boast. |
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The doctrine of individual
election does not
mean that certain individuals merely receive some external privileges, or
that some people are likely to be saved, or that certain people who cooperate
with the influence of the Spirit and persevere will be saved, but that a
definite, fixed number of people are chosen to eternal life "according
to the good pleasure of His will" (Eph. 1:5). "It is an election
unto an end; that is, unto salvation. In working it out God endows believers
with such influences as the Holy Spirit as to lead them, not only to accept
Christ, but to persevere unto the end and be saved unto the uttermost."162 Those elected will be regenerated
(Eph. 2:5), justified (Rom. 8:30), holy and without blame (Eph. 1:4), adopted
into God's family (Eph. 1:5) and glorified (Rom. 8:30). |
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It is
true that an elect nation,
such as Israel, has within it those who are saved and those who do not
believe, but individual election unto life means that 100% of those chosen by
God will go to heaven. Paul said regarding the elect within Israel: "God
has not cast away His people whom He foreknew...at the present time there is
a remnant according to the election of grace.… Israel has not obtained what it
seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened" (Rom.
11:2, 5, 7). John wrote, "All that the Father gives me will come to Me,
and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (Jn. 6:37). To
Timothy Paul wrote: "God has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2 Tim. 1:9, cf. Rom.
9:10-23; Eph. 1:3-12; Acts 13:48). Paul said that the elect are "vessels
of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom. 9:23). The end of
the elect is glory and not destruction. |
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A study of the work of the
Holy Spirit in believers will prove that those regenerated and indwelt by the
Holy Spirit cannot totally fall away and perish. A biblical understanding of
regeneration leads to a biblical view of perseverance. The apostle John
wrote: "Whoever has been born of God does not sin [present continuous
tense]…because he has been born of God" (1 Jn. 3:9). "For whatever
is born of God overcomes the world" (1 Jn. 5:4). Peter said that
Christians have "been born again, not of corruptible [perishable] seed
but incorruptible" (1 Pet. 1:23). If the principle of new life in the
believer is imperishable, overcomes the world, and prevents him from
continuing in a life of sin, then is it not logical to infer that real
Christians cannot apostatize or fall short of salvation? Speaking of the Holy
Spirit, John wrote: "You are of God, little children, and have overcome
them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world"
(1 Jn. 4:4). Matthew Henry writes: "We are born of God, taught of God,
anointed of God, and so secured against infectious fatal delusions. God has
his chosen, who shall not be mortally seduced.... The Spirit of God dwells in
you, and that Spirit is more mighty than men or devils."163 |
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Regeneration is a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit upon a person's heart (or
whole human nature) in which the soul is made spiritually alive and
permanently oriented in a God-ward direction. The spiritual life imparted in
regeneration is immortal. Since regeneration is a sovereign act of the Holy
Spirit upon man in which man does not cooperate (initiate by an act of the
will), only the Holy Spirit can unregenerate a person. Furthermore, even if a
person could unregenerate
himself, he never would, for the regenerate person has a heart of flesh that
loves Jesus Christ. Therefore, those who argue that a real Christian can
apostatize must also logically argue that the Holy Spirit takes away the
heart of flesh from believers and replaces it with a heart of stone. Such a
thought is absurd and wicked. |
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According to Scripture regeneration occurs in all those united to Christ in
His life, death, and resurrection (Eph. 2:5-7). Faith and repentance
naturally flow from a regenerate heart, and thus are called gifts of God in
Scripture (Ac. 5:31; 11:18; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29). If faith is a gift from
God and does not arise autonomously in the human heart, then it logically
follows that God would have to remove this faith for a believer to
apostatize. The Bible declares that God will not abandon His people whom He
loved beforehand (Heb. 5:13; Jn. 10:28, 29; 11:26; etc.). "Similarly it
follows that if a man is not saved by exercising his own [autonomously
produced] faith he cannot be lost by ceasing to exercise it. Again this is
not merely a logical extension without Scripture to support it, for Scripture
tells us plainly that election means God's choice of the individual and not
the individual's choice of God (Jn. 15:16); and God is not a man that He
should change his mind (Num. 23:19)."164 |
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The
Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit seals believers. "You were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His
glory" (Eph. 1:13-14). If believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit and
guaranteed an inheritance, they cannot lose their salvation. In Ephesians
4:30 Paul writes: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption." Gordon Clark writes: "He
seals us 'to the day of redemption.' Until or for the day of redemption. Here we have
the Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. This or that man
in the pew may or may not have been sealed; but if he has been, he will not
be finally lost. Regeneration is a once-for-all act. We are not saved at
breakfast, lost at noon, and born again in the evening. The phrase 'day of
redemption' in this passage is obviously not the day of our regeneration, but
the day of full redemption, redemption of the body from the grave, and
redemption from sin that will always affect us in our present life."165 |
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In
the epistle to the Romans Paul taught that the indwelling of the Spirit
"secures not only the life of the soul, but also the ultimate and
glorious life of the body."166 "But if the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in
you" (Rom. 8:11). "Our souls shall live in happiness and glory,
because they are renewed: and our bodies too shall be raised up in glory,
because they are temples of the Holy Ghost. In the widest sense then it is
true, that to be in the Spirit, is to be secure of life and peace."167 To have the indwelling Spirit of God
is to possess life eternal. |
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The Bible teaches that
Christ's redemptive work secures the salvation of His people. "You shall
call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Mt.
1:21). All the Biblical terms which describe Christ's atoning death make
impossible the Arminian idea of an indefinite conditional atonement:
expiation means that all the guilt of every sin is forever removed;
propitiation means that God's just wrath against sin has been permanently
taken away; ransom or redemption refers to the fact that Christ paid the
price in full;
reconciliation means that the enmity between God and the sinner has been
removed. The believing sinner is justified. His sins have imputed to Christ
on the cross, and Christ's perfect righteousness has been imputed to him. The
believer is united to Christ in His life, death and resurrection. Believers
are not "under law but under grace" (Rom. 6:14). They are
"dead to the law" (Rom. 7:4), "dead to sin" (Rom. 6:2),
and "freed from sin" (Rom. 6:2). If the price has been paid in
full, if all the guilt of sin is removed, and if a person is clothed with
Christ's perfect righteousness, then how can he go to hell? It is clearly
impossible.168 |
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This,
however, does not mean that Christians can claim to be justified and live
like the devil for union with Christ in His death and resurrection also
secures their salvation from the power of sin. Believers will be sanctified.
They definitely will have victory over habitual sin patterns. "Our old
man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin.... But now having been set free
from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness,
and the end, everlasting life" (Rom. 6:6, 22). If a believer is perfect
before God on account of Christ, and also has definitive sanctification by
virtue of union with Him, then obviously he cannot apostatize. "The Lord
will perfect that which concerns me. Your mercy, O Lord, endures
forever" (Ps. 138:8). "He shall see the travail of His soul, and be
satisfied" (Isa. 53:11). |
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The covenant of redemption
refers to the agreement made by the persons of the trinity before the
creation of the universe regarding the salvation of the elect. The Father
chose a people in Christ (Eph. 1:4) and agreed to give them to the Son as a
reward for His obedience and suffering. The Son agreed to come to earth to
meet all the legal obligations for the elect by His sinless life and
sacrificial death. The Holy Spirit agreed to apply Christ's perfect work of
redemption to the elect. "Christ speaks of promises made to Him before
His advent, and repeatedly refers to a commission which He had received from
the Father, John 5:30, 43; 6:38-40; 17:4-12. And in Rom. 5:12-21 and I Cor.
15:22 He is clearly regarded as a representative head, that is, as the head
of a covenant."169 Christ emphasized that He came to do
the Father's will. The Bible also teaches that as the divine-human mediator
He would receive a reward for His perfect obedience. "Moreover, in John
17:5 Christ claims a reward, and in John 17:6, 9, 24 (cf. also Phil. 2:9-11)
He refers to His people and His future glory as a reward given Him by the
Father."170 |
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The
idea that the Father has promised the Son the elect as a gift renders
impossible the doctrine that true believers can eternally perish. Custance
writes: "The statement of the Lord Himself, 'My Father who gave them to
Me' (John 10:29), is the starting point. The fact that we are the gift of the
Father to the Son, a circumstance that implies we are in some special way God's
possession even before we come to the Son, is constantly reaffirmed by the
Lord Himself. It seems to be the starting point of his special concern in
what is truly the 'Lord's Prayer' in John 17 (especially v. 6). And that we
are gifts of the Father to the Son is repeated again and again in John's
gospel: 6:37, 44, 65; 10:28, 29; 17:2, 6, 9, 11, 12, 24; and in many other
places. No giver can make a gift of that which is not already his to give.
And is it conceivable that God can give to the Son such a present unless it
is given in perpetuity? Jesus said: 'This is the Father's will [the Greek
here is the strong word thelema,
meaning intention]
who has sent Me, that of all whom He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day'" (Jn. 6:39).171 "If Christ would lose some of the
ones whom the Father gave Him, He would fail to accomplish God's will (John
6:32, 39)."172 |
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There are a number of
additional reasons given in Scripture which support the doctrine of the
perseverance of the saints: 1. The Bible teaches that Christians can have a
full assurance of their salvation (Heb. 3:14; 6:11; 10:22; 2 Pet. 1:10).173 If believers could lose their
salvation at any time, Christians could never have such an assurance. 2.
Scripture says that believers are united with Christ and are partakers of His
Spirit. This union cannot be destroyed, for it is founded upon God's eternal,
unchangeable, electing love. This union means that as long as Christ lives,
believers will also live. They are part of His body. 3. God's word teaches
that Christ intercedes as a high priest on behalf of His people (Jn.
17:9-26). Since Christ's intercessory prayers for the elect are always
efficacious (Jn. 11:42; Heb. 7:25), not one of His own can ever be lost. 4.
Jesus promised that of all who come to Him, not one would be forsaken or cast
away (Jn. 6:37; Heb. 13:5, 6). 5. The illustrations and metaphors used in the
Bible to describe real believers all teach permanence. "The saints, even
in this world, are compared to a tree that does not wither, Ps. 1:3; to the
cedars which flourish on Mount Lebanon, Ps. 92:12; to Mount Zion which cannot
be moved, but which abideth forever, Ps. 125:1; and to a house built on a
rock, Matt. 7:24. The Lord is with them in their old age, Is. 46:4, and is
their guide even unto death, Ps. 48:14, so that they cannot be totally and
finally lost."174 Given the abundance of scriptural
evidence in favor of God's preservation of His people, it is astounding that
the doctrine is rejected by many modern evangelicals. |
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The obvious and most common
objection to the doctrine of perseverance is that if people are taught that
they cannot lose their salvation, they will lead lives characterized by
immorality. People say, "If a believer cannot lose his salvation, why
should he bother to attend the means of grace? Why should he work hard at
self-examination and personal sanctification?" In order to answer these
questions, one should first note the difference between the doctrine of the
perseverance of the saints and the popular fundamentalist-evangelical
doctrine of "eternal security." Although many evangelicals believe
that genuine Christians can lose their salvation, there are a number of
people who teach that Christians cannot lose their salvation. They teach, however,
that once a person "accepts Christ" he cannot lose his salvation, no
matter how he behaves.
This interpretation of eternal security arose from the dispensational
teaching that a person can receive Christ as Savior while not receiving Him
as Lord; that repentance is a doctrine pertaining to the old Jewish
dispensation of law and does not apply to the new covenant church (which is a
parenthesis in God's plan). According to this view a person who "made a
decision for Christ" could live a lifestyle involving fornication,
drunkenness, theft, murder, bestiality, etc., and still be guaranteed a place
in heaven. This is the "carnal Christian" heresy. The apostle Paul
defines a carnal person as a believer who has a sectarian spirit in the
church; not a person
who has refused to repent and submit to Christ as Lord. This view of eternal
security should never be confused with the scriptural doctrine of
perseverance. |
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The
doctrine of perseverance takes very seriously all the biblical commands to
watchfulness, obedience, sanctification and holiness. The Bible teaches that
all those who are justified will also be sanctified. Christ not only saves
His people from the guilt of sin, but also from its power. Union with Christ
entails both the forgiveness of sin and a lifestyle characterized by
holiness. John Murray wrote: "[I]t is utterly wrong to say that a
believer is secure quite irrespective of his subsequent life of sin and
unfaithfulness. The truth is that the faith of Jesus Christ is always
respective of the life
of holiness and fidelity. And so it is never proper to think of a believer
irrespective of the fruits of faith and holiness. To say that a believer is
secure whatever may be the extent of his addiction to sin in his subsequent
life is to abstract faith in Christ from its very definition and it ministers
to that abuse which turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. The doctrine
of perseverance is the doctrine that believers persevere; it cannot be too strongly stressed
that it is the perseverance
of the saints. And that means that the saints, those united to Christ by the
effectual call of the Father and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, will persevere
unto the end. If they persevere, they endure, they continue. It is not at all
that they will be saved irrespective of their perseverance or their
continuance, but that they will assuredly persevere. Consequently, the
security that is theirs is inseparable from their perseverance. Is this not
what Jesus said? 'He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.'"175 |
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The
dispensationalist doctrine of eternal security is based on a faulty
understanding of the relationship between justification and sanctification.
It is argued that any requirement of holiness on the believer's part for
perseverance is a mixing of faith and works to attain eternal life.
Calvinists are accused of rejecting justification as a once-and-for-all act
of God in favor of justification by a process that involves perseverance.176 This interpretation of the Calvinist's
position is totally off the mark. Following the Scriptures Calvinists teach
that justification is a once-for-all judicial act of God which cannot be
annulled and is never to be repeated. But once a person is justified, he
immediately begins a lifelong process of sanctification. Sanctification and
growth in holiness and perseverance do not contribute one iota to a person's
salvation. However, if a person claims to be a Christian yet is not
sanctified and does not persevere, then that person was never really a
Christian. He was never born again or justified. He was a hypocrite, a false
professor who merely had a bare intellectual assent to certain propositions
but who never truly trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation. "It is not
enough to profess
Christ. You must actually and really possess Christ as your personal Lord and
Saviour in order to be truly saved."177 The same Jesus who preached
justification by faith alone (Jn. 5:24; Lk. 18:9-14; 23:43) also said
"You shall know them by their fruits" (Mt. 7:16). Paul said,
"Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The
Lord knows those who are his,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of
Christ depart from iniquity'" (2 Tim. 2:19). |
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The
charge that perseverance leads to carelessness and indolence shows an
ignorance of the relationship between predestination and personal
responsibility. God predestinates the end, but also the means to an end.
Furthermore, although God is in control of "whatsoever comes to
pass," man is a valid secondary agent and is fully responsible for his
actions. Scripture gives many examples of godly men who were told what would
happen in the future; yet these same men were exceedingly diligent in working
toward that promised end. "Joshua, though he was assured that not a man
should be able to stand before him, but all his enemies should be conquered
by him; this did not make him secure, nor hinder him from taking all the
proper precautions against his enemies; and of making use of all means to
obtain a victory over them. Hezekiah, though he was assured of his
restoration from his disorder; yet this did not hinder him, nor the prophet,
who assured him of it, from making use of proper means for the cure of it:
and though the apostle Paul had a certainty of the saving of the lives of all
that were in the ship, yet he directed them to the proper means of their
preservation; and told them, that except they abode in the ship they could
not be saved; and taking this his advice, though shipwrecked, they all came
safe to shore."178 |
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Another objection to
perseverance is that since the Bible is full of warnings against apostasy and
unbelief, the danger of falling away cannot be imaginary, but must be quite
real. Furthermore, are there not many examples of believers who apostatized
(e.g., King Saul, Judas Iscariot, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Philetus, and Demas)? |
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That
the Bible is full of admonitions to obey and persevere and warnings against
apostasy cannot be denied. There are the many "if" passages.
"Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My
word you are My disciples indeed'" (Jn. 8:31). "And you, who once
were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has
reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and
blameless, and irreproachable in His sight–if indeed you continue in the
faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the
gospel which you heard" (Col. 1:21-23). "For we have become
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to
the end" (Heb. 3:14; cf. Jn. 15:6, 7, 10, 14; Heb. 2:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:1-2). |
|
Jesus
spoke regarding those who endure for only a while (Mt. 13:21) and those who
are unfruitful because of the deceitfulness of riches (Mt. 13:22). The
apostle Paul said: "Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare
the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the
goodness and severity of God: on those who fall, severity; but toward you,
goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut
off" (Rom. 11:21-22). Paul said to Timothy, "by them you may wage
the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having
rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck" (1 Tim.
1:18-19). "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will
depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of
demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). In his second letter to Timothy Paul writes:
"If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also
will deny us.... Hymenaeus and Philetus...have strayed concerning the truth,
saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of
some" (2 Tim. 2:12, 13, 17, 18). |
|
The
author of Hebrews also gave stern warnings. "For it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the good heavenly gift, and
have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of
God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again
to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and
put Him to an open shame" (Heb. 6:4-6). "For if we sin willfully
after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a
sacrifice for sins" (Heb. 10:26). The author spoke of the "need of
endurance" (10:30). The Israelites who did not endure but disbelieved
and disobeyed and thus fell in the wilderness are set forth as a warning to
the new covenant church (cf. Heb. 3:16-4:6; 1 Cor. 10:1-12). After the same
illustration Paul wrote: "Therefore let him who thinks he stand take
heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). |
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Peter
warned the church of the danger of false teachers. "But there were also
false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among
you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord
who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will
follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be
blasphemed" (2 Pet. 2:1-2). Peter even spoke of those who escaped the
pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ and then returned to
their old ways of wickedness. He says it would have better for them if they
had never known the way of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:20-22). |
|
The
Arminian simply quotes from among these and other related passages and says
that it is obvious that believers can, have, and do fall away from the faith.
But if real Christians can totally fall away, then are not many
well-established doctrines contradicted (i.e., the atonement, God's
sovereignty, unconditional election, irresistible grace, God's love of the
elect, the covenant of redemption, etc.)? The Arminian does not really
consider these other doctrines a problem, for they have already twisted and
perverted them to fit into their system–a system that exalts man's free will
as the ultimate determiner of salvation. What about the numerous passages
which clearly teach that real believers cannot totally fall away? Arminians either
ignore these passages or insist that they must be harmonized with the
passages which they claim teach that true believers can apostatize and go to
hell. The preservation and perseverance passages must be interpreted as if
they are conditioned upon autonomous free human will, even though they appear
unconditional. In other words, the plain sense of the preservation-perseverance
passages must be altered to fit into the Arminian paradigm. |
|
But,
the Arminian will object, doesn't the Calvinist alter the plain meaning of
the passages which speak of Christians falling away? Does he not force these
passages into his theological system? Before answering the Arminian
objection, a few interpretive issues should be considered. First, one must
consider the fact that Scripture cannot contradict Scripture. The Bible
cannot teach that real believers can never totally fall away and also teach that genuine Christians can
apostatize. Second, whenever one encounters a difficult passage, or some
passages which appear to contradict other passages, one should use the
clearer passages to interpret the less clear. Third, if there are passages that
appear to contradict other passages, one should examine other related
doctrines to determine which interpretation best harmonizes with Scripture as
a whole. |
|
If
these procedures are followed, then one must accept the doctrine of the
preservation of the saints and reject the Arminian notion that true believers
can fall from grace. First, the passages which teach the preservation of the
saints could not be more clear. When Jesus says that not one of His people
can perish (Jn. 6:39; 10:27-29), how can this mean that some of His people
will perish? The Arminian passages are easily explained. In fact, Scripture
plainly says that those who apostatize from the faith were never really
Christians to begin with (see below). Second, if real sheep could become
goats and go to hell, then several crucial Christian doctrines are wrong.
Even the doctrine of salvation by grace alone would have to be abandoned in
favor of a synergistic method of salvation. Man would have to preserve
himself through evangelical obedience. |
|
The
Scriptures explain the falling away of professing Christians not in terms of
real Christians losing their salvation, but as false faith or unbelief
becoming evident. John wrote: "They went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they
went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us"
(1 Jn. 2:19). John says that these apostates were never "of us."
They were never genuine believers. They never really belonged to Christ or
the invisible church. "Their presence in the visible church was
temporary, for they failed in their perseverance. If they had been members of
the invisible church, they would have remained with the body of
believers."179 John also says that real believers
have an anointing from the Holy Spirit and thus cannot be deceived by
damnable heresies; they will remain in Christ (1 Jn. 2:21, 27). |
|
When
the author of Hebrews described the Israelites who apostatized in the
wilderness, who did not enter the promised land because of disobedience (Heb.
4:6), he said that their problem was that they did not believe (Heb. 3:19).
In the parable of the sower (Mt. 13:3-23; Mk. 4:1-20) Jesus described four
types of ground unto which the good seed of the gospel fell, but it was only
the good ground that produced fruit. Only the regenerated heart had true
saving faith. The other three had a counterfeit faith. When Paul said that
the natural branches of the olive tree were broken off (i.e. national
Israel), he specifically said that they were broken off because of unbelief
(Rom. 11:20). A study of the passages often quoted by Arminians reveals that
those who apostatized had the benefit of external gospel privileges as
members of the visible church, but they never were regenerated and never had
true saving faith. In not one of the passages which discuss apostates does it
say that they were regenerated, justified or adopted. |
|
The
Calvinist has never denied the possibility and the reality of people
apostatizing and being excommunicated from the visible church, for the
visible church is made up of genuine believers and hypocrites, of wheat and
tares, of sheep and goats, of the elect and non-elect. There are many people
who profess faith in Christ, are baptized, partake of the Lord's supper, sit
under the preaching of the word, and outwardly reform their lives, but as
time progresses prove themselves to be self-deceived hypocrites. This common
occurrence, however, does not prove that genuine believers can fall away.
Furthermore, since no one knows the human heart, everyone in the visible
church must be treated as a genuine believer until he proves himself
otherwise. |
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When
the apostle Peter discusses false teachers who apostatize and return to the
world, he does not say that Christ removed the guilt of their sins, but that
they for a time "escaped the pollutions of the world" (2 Pet.
2:20). That is, they had an external reformation of behavior based on what
they knew of the gospel. Peter indicates that these teachers were never
really regenerate. He says, "But it has happened to them according to
the true proverb: 'a dog returns to his own vomit,' and 'a sow, having
washed, to her wallowing in the mire'" (2 Pet. 2:22). A dog and a pig
act according to their own nature. One can wash a pig and make it clean, but
a pig is a pig. It will return to wallowing in the mud–in disgusting
filth–because that is what pigs do. Likewise, people who apostatize, who
return to their former lifestyle, prove that they were never regenerated by
the Holy Spirit because their natures were never changed. "If we could
see the real motives of their hearts, we would discover that at no time were
they ever activated by a true love of God. They were all this while goats,
and not sheep, ravening wolves, and not gentle lambs."180 |
|
Perhaps the Scripture most commonly used by Arminians to try to prove the
apostasy of genuine believers is Hebrews 6:4-6. Although this is a difficult
passage, a brief consideration of it within its context will prove that it
does not support the Arminian position and contradict the rest of Scripture.
The problem that the author of the book of Hebrews was dealing with involved
Jews who joined the Christian assembly for a time and then returned to
Pharisaical Judaism. They are said to "crucify the Son of God afresh,
and put Him to an open shame" (6:6). By going back to the Pharisaical
religion these Jews totally repudiated Jesus Christ; they joined forces with
those who persecuted the church–the religious leaders responsible for
Christ's arrest, torture and execution. It is noteworthy that the author of
Hebrews does not refer to these apostatizers as "us" or even as
"you," but as "those." Note also that as soon as the
section dealing with these apostatizers ends, the writer sets up a contrast
between the real and the counterfeit: "But, beloved, we are confident of
better things concerning you, things that accompany salvation" (v. 9).181 |
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When
the author says that these apostatizers "were once enlightened" (v.
4), he simply means that they had been instructed in gospel doctrine. They
had at best an intellectual understanding of the gospel. They "tasted of
the heavenly gift" (v. 4). Gill wrote: "tasting of it, stands opposed to eating his
flesh and drinking his blood, which is proper to true believers, who feed
upon him, internally receive him, and are nourished by him; while hypocrites,
and formal professors, only taste
of him, have a superficial knowledge of him, and gust [taste] for him."182 This interpretation becomes evident
when one considers that these Jewish apostates "resorted once again to
the old sacrificial system and thus demonstrated their lack of any saving
faith and of any true comprehension of the role the Lord Jesus had played as
the lamb of God."183 |
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But
what did the author mean when he said, "...and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit" (v. 4)? This likely means that these professors had the
benefit of sharing in the miraculous workings of the Holy Spirit common in
the church services during the first generation of believers. The Greek word
"partakers" could be translated "sharers." These false
professors saw the healings, heard the prophecies, etc. Pink wrote: "It
should be pointed out that the Greek word for 'partakers' here is a different
one from that used in Col. 1:12 and 2 Peter 1:4, where real Christians are in
view. The word here simply means 'companions,' referring to what is external
rather than internal.... These apostates had never been 'born of the Spirit'
(John 3:6), still less were their bodies His 'temples' (I Cor. 6:19)."184 |
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That
the author of Hebrews in this portion of Scripture does not teach that real Christians can totally
fall away is also evident from the following. First, the church is told that
it is impossible to
renew those who fall away "again to repentance, since they crucify again
for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame" (v. 6).
This cannot refer to Christians who fall into grievous sins, for the New
Testament gives examples of believers who fell and were restored (e.g.,
Peter, and the repentant Corinthian, 2 Cor. 2:5-10). It refers to professors
who totally reject the doctrines of Christianity and thus call Christ a liar,
an imposter. If a person was a church member, tasted the sacrament, tasted
the word of God and then went back to Judaism, or Islam, or Hinduism, he
would be putting Christ to an open shame. Can a real Christian blaspheme
Jesus, spit in His face, and call Him an imposter? Certainly not! Paul wrote:
"no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed" (1 Cor.
12:3). "To call him anathema is to declare and avow that he was justly
crucified as an accursed person, as a public pest. This was done by these
persons who went over to the Jews, in approbation of what they had done
against him."185 |
|
Second, the illustration at the end of the section on apostasy (Heb. 6:7 ff.)
confirms the interpretation that apostates were never genuine believers. The
rain falling upon the earth is a figurative way of describing the word of God
being taught to a group of people. These people have the benefit of sitting
under the means of grace. But among those who hear the word, there are two
very different responses. One group of people bears useful herbs (v. 7),
while another produces thorns and briars "whose end is to be
burned" (v. 8). Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits. Do
men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good
tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot
bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their
fruits you will know them" (Mt. 7:16-20). The reason some people bear
bad fruit is that they were never regenerate. They are bad. "That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit" (Jn. 3:6). On the other hand, those who are regenerate cannot
produce bad fruit. "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His
seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God"
(1 Jn. 3:9). |
|
But
if Christians cannot fall away or apostatize, why are there so many warnings
against it?186
Although the Bible teaches that God is faithful and will preserve His people,
this does not mean that God does so apart from the use of secondary causes.
The warnings and threats found in the New Testament are used by the Holy
Spirit to motivate believers unto a greater diligence, watchfulness, effort,
and faithfulness toward God. Perseverance is a perseverance in holiness and
faith. Berkouwer writes: "For what is striking about the Scriptures is
that the passages concerning the steadfastness of God's faithfulness and the
passages with admonitions are inseparable. We do not encounter a single
passage that would allow anyone to take the immutability of the grace of God
in Christ for granted.... The continuance of God's grace cannot be associated
with taking things for granted or with passivity."187 "We believe and pray knowing that
our preservation depends entirely upon God's covenantal faithfulness while,
at the same time, striving for and seeking after holiness as if our
perseverance depended entirely on our own faithfulness to the Lord."188 When a Christian examines the passages
which speak of the fearful consequences of rejecting Christ, the torments of
the lake of fire, the day of judgment, and God's thunderbolts of wrath upon
the wicked in history, he ought to be all the more diligent to make his
calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10). Gill concurs: "these
prohibitions of sin, and motives to holiness, are used by the Spirit of God
as a means of perseverance; and so they are considered by good men. And it
would be absurd and irrational to judge otherwise; for can a man believe he
shall persevere to the end, and yet indulge himself in sin, as if he was
resolved not to persevere? and nothing can be more stronger motives to
holiness and righteousness, than the absolute and unconditional promises of
God to his people; and the firm assurance given them of their being the
children of God, and the redeemed of the Lamb."189 |
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The
warnings to persevere and work hard at sanctification serve many purposes.
First, they stand as explicit warnings and condemnations to those who
apostatize and are cut off from the visible church. God has seen fit to give
special warnings to those who profess the true religion and then depart from
it. Second, when true believers backslide and fall into grievous sins, they
ought to lose all assurance of salvation. These passages regarding apostasy
should strike terror into the hearts of all backsliders. These fears are not
only used to keep believers from falling away, but they also serve to drive
stray sheep back to the fold. Third, these threats stand as a sergeant over
his troops, calling them to diligence during a time of great warfare. The
Christian life is not static. The trials, temptations, tests and battles of
life need such sober exhortations. Fourth, they are a call to humility and
prayer. Since it is God who enables His people to persevere, one is
continually cast upon Him and His promises. The fact that Christians are
promised success should make them all the more sober and diligent. |
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Used by Permission. Edited by Stephen Pribble |
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