| One of the extremely important theological issues that often surrounds discussion of the Gospel and of salvation deals with the tension between God's sovereignty and human responsibility. This tension takes many shapes, such as the tension between predestination/election and the human responsibility to accept and respond in faith. It is sometimes conceived in terms of God's justice verses God's love. J. I. Packer talks about this tension as an "antinomy." In our developing theology, we are working toward a coherent theology which does not alleviate this "tension" but instead affirms these two important streams of theology as essential, and as truths that must be held together. As is clear from the texts that follow, we must begin with the very clear attestation in scripture that Salvation is of and from God, and it is not of ourselves, but a gift. It is God who saves. There is no Pelagianism here. Scripture speaks very clearly of God's call and election. As much as we may find these themes offend our sensibilities, we must never ignore them. Instead, we must cling to them, as we seek to understand as fully as we can, as a central message of the Gospel, and as set within the larger Scriptural witness to God's love and action. Salvation is God's work, not ours, so that noone can boast. In order to work toward a deeper understanding of these dual lines of resoning which must be held together, we shall here undertake an investigation into a number of biblical texts which illuminate these two important themes. Although the list of possible texts is quite extensive, and inevitably some will argue that I have left out crucial ones, I have here selected a number of texts which I believe begin to illustrate the importance of both of these points. |
| Ephesians 1:3-14 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the righes of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment --to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predistined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. |
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| This Ephesians text is an important one to emphasize clearly God's initiatory and sovereign role in salvation. Salvation, in God's grace, is given to those who God predestined and chose, according to God's good pleasure, purpose and will. Clearly, Salvation is from God, of God, by God and for God. Nothing else can stand at the foundation of this discussion. Paul's teaching here is quite clear. Yet, it is also important to understand that even though this assertion of God's sovereignty is foundational, it is not one that stands alone. Even in this passage, Paul writes that "Having believed, you were marked in him...." |
| John 1:10-13 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. |
| Here in this passage in John, taken from the prologue of the Gospel, we have Salvation through Jesus Christ introduced to us. Of first importance is that Jesus Christ is the Creator of the world, who came to redeem it, and yet, this world which belongs to Him did not recognize him, and neither did "his own" receive him. Clearly, it is in Jesus Christ, and in His name, that we are saved. Verse 12 goes on to emphasize that those who are saved are those who receive and believe, yet it at once makes clear the point that we are not saved by human decision or will, but by God. This passage yet again makes clear that believing and receiving are essential to salvation, and it is to "all who receive" and believe that salvation is given, implying that it is not given to those who don't. At the same time, though, we are not to in any way take credit for our salvation, for we do not save ourselves, but it is God who saves us. |
| Ephesians 2:1-10 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions --it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. |
| Like the Ephesians text above, this passage affirms the central message of the gospel clearly, that God loves the world, and came in Christ Jesus to save us, though we were sinners. Of clear emphasis in this passage is that Christ Jesus brings salvation through grace, not because we have in any way merited it, for we were saved while we were still dead in our transgressions. The initiative is clearly God's, and salvation is clearly by grace, by God's unmerited favor. No mater what discussion occurs concerning the nature of salvation, we must always hold this grace as central to our understanding, for in it is the core of the gospel message! |
| Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. |
| In choosing this passage for our discussion on Salvation, it must first be made clear that here Paul is not calling us to salvation by works. Instead, we are being called to live out that salvation according to God's purpose. The interest of this passage to our discussion is the dual emphasis that is present here. First, we are given the call to "continue to work out your salvation." This command is then followed up with the truth that it is "God who works in you to will and to act." Here we see a rather straightforward expression of the tension we are seeking to maintain between God's sovereignty and human responsibility, in that we are told to do something, and simultaneously told that God is working in us to will and act. It is still our willing and acting, but it is done by God's power, and through God's work in our lives. |
| Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility |
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| Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility |
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| Acts 16:14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. |
| Here Luke recounts for us the "conversion" of Lydia. As we have continually sought to make clear, this salvation is of and by God. Here Luke puts our two themes together, but there is no tension. It is the Lord who opens her heart. She doesn't have the coice all to herself. There is no sense in which she saves herself. It is God! Yet, we also see that she respond's to Paul's message. Paul has preached the Word, God has worked in her heart, in fact given her a heart, and she has responded. We must give God's activity primacy, for salvation is from God. Lydia responds to the work of God done in hear and to the Word of God preached to her. |
| Romans 8:28-30 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. |
| Here Paul gives us the "ordo saludis," the order of salvation. First, we begin with one of the best known, and maybe one of the most misused, statements about God's work in all things. We must acknowledge and believe that God is not overcome by anything that is done, or that anything thwarts his good purpose. Yet, evil can and should still be called what it is. Ultimately, this is a mystery. Paul then goes on to speak of God's predestination and God's call. He gives us the order of God's working in our salvation: God predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies. These are things God does! God is sovereign, praise be the Lord for his salvation. |
| 1 Corinthians 1: 23-24 . . . But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. |
| Here Paul gives us a picture of the logic of the Gospel. God's Good News is foolishness to Gentiles and a stumbling block to Jews: it is incomprehensible to the fallen human. But, God has not left us in sin. To those God calls, this Good News is the power and wisdom of God. God brings coherence between this Good News and between beoples hearts and minds. Clearly, this is a work God does. But, Paul doesn't just say that God saves us (which God does). Paul also makes it clear that what would otherwise seem foolish is wisdom and power. We have been opened, and recognize and receive God's gospel. |
| Romans 9: 14-21 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on Man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?'" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble use and some for common use? |
| Here in Romans 9-11 Paul makes one of the clearest statements of God's sovereignty, especially with regard to salvation. He lays it right out, salvation doesn't depend on man's will or effort, but instead is the choice of God. God imparts salvation to whom he chooses. But are we to imply from this that God is fickle, or that God is arbitrary? Clearly, Salvation is from God, not from Man, and it is God who predestines and choose to save. But we must always look to the broader scriptural witness, and one thing that may inform our reading is the source for the image of the potter, as found in Jeremiah. |
| Jeremiah 18:1-10 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it." |
| Jeremiah portrays very clearly, as does Romans 9 where Paul uses this same image, God's sovereignty as the potter. It is clear that God is the creator of the universe, and we are merely clay in God's hands. But, here in the Jeremiah passage, we see as clearly as anywyere else in scripture, that God in his sovereignty also works in concert with the freedom he has given to humanity. In Jeremiah 18, God talks of relenting of punishment and of blessing if the people repent or turn from God. God is clearly seen as sovereign creator and judge, but this in no way destroys the freedom God has entrusted to humanity. This source for the image of the potter can very insightfully complement what are often too narrow and fatalistic readings of Romans 9-11. Clearly, God is sovereign, as Paul emphatically attests. But in the Jewish mind, this didn't come at the expense of our human responsibility. It shouldn't be thus in our minds either, even though our own philosophical and cultural heritage may find more conflict at this point. |