The genius of Calvinism is its
commitment not to go beyond the plain teachings of the Word of God on either
divine sovereignty or human responsibility.
Regarding divine sovereignty,
the Bible teaches both predestination and providence. By predestination, I mean
the decrees of God, which are "His eternal purpose, according to the
counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatsoever
comes to pass." By providence, I mean God's "most holy, wise and
powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions."
God has declared the end from the beginning, saying, "My counsel shall
stand and I will do all My pleasure." God is working all things for His own
glory and for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according
to His purpose. God has planned and decreed every event, no matter how seemingly
trivial, and is governing history to implement flawlessly His plans.
Regarding human responsibility,
the Bible speaks of the human free agent as the one rightfully responsible for
all that he does. God genuinely delights in obedience to His commands. Thus God
is grieved when people break His moral laws or disregard His warnings or disobey
the gospel command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. When God's warnings are
heeded, He withdraws His threatened judgment and thus, from the perspective of
the historical process, repents or changes His mind.
To the infinite divine Mind,
these truths regarding divine sovereignty and human responsibility perfectly
complement each other without any contradiction. To the finite human mind,
however, there is an appearance of contradiction. The complete congruence of
these truths is beyond our full understanding. C.H. Spurgeon describes this
predicament this way:
"That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two
facts that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and
contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible
that everything is foreordained, that is true; and if I find, in another
Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is
only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict
each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly
anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are
so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never
discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere
in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring."
More than once,
Calvin counsels patience with these high mysteries which God has revealed but
not totally explained. We need to recognize that there are limits to what we can
understand when dealing with the eternal, and we need to learn where those
limits lie. Calvin refers to this knowledge of our intellectual limits as
"learned ignorance." He mentions this concept more than once in his
writings:
"... I reverently adore with fear and trembling what is too sublime
for the angels themselves. Often therefore in my writings I admonish my readers,
that on this subject nothing is better than a learned ignorance; for those rave
like madmen who arrogate to know more about it than is fit" (The Secret
Providence, page 46).
We cannot with our creaturely
minds reconcile all the Bible teaches about divine sovereignty with all the
Bible teaches about human responsibility. For example, if God in eternity past
decreed my every thought, word and action, then how can these be genuinely my
own and thus my genuine responsibility? God has not answered that question for
us. The answer is probably beyond our comprehension anyway. God's sharing this
bit of information with us would probably be like a man's sharing a subtle joke
with his dog. The dog may be able to understand the simple command
"sit" but not a subtle joke. As the Apostle Paul exclaimed, "How
unsearchable are God's judgments, and His ways past finding out!" By faith
we accept that things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Not everyone, however, is
willing to accept these lofty truths on faith. Some insist that they will
believe only what they can fully understand. They try to transcend "learned
ignorance" through philosophical speculation. Such speculation often
involves lowering a doctrine to the level of human understanding by denying or
contradicting something else Scripture clearly teaches. For example, the Bible
teaches all of the following:
1.
The gospel offer is genuine and sincere, even to
those who persist in rejecting it. God delights in gospel obedience and takes no
pleasure in the death of the wicked.
2.
God gives salvation as a totally free gift to those
He has chosen to save, who have done nothing to deserve this choice of mercy and
grace.
3.
Many do not obey the gospel command and will suffer
eternal punishment for their sins.
The Calvinist simply accepts all
three of these truths and acknowledges that he cannot totally understand how all
three fit together. Those who cannot live with Biblical mystery will reject one
of the three to make the other two understandable on the human level.
Some reject truth number one.
They argue that God cannot be genuinely grieved when those whom He has not
chosen to save as a gift of grace, reject the gospel. In such cases, the gospel
offer is not motivated by a sincere desire for gospel obedience. The only reason
to offer such people the gospel is to increase their guilt and judgment.
Some reject truth number two.
They argue that since God desires all to be saved and yet many are not,
salvation cannot be all of grace. There must be some human contribution to
salvation which turns the point and thus determines who is saved and who is not.
Some reject truth number three.
They argue that since God desires all to be saved and since salvation is a free
gift, everyone will be saved.
The Calvinist has a different
approach altogether. He accepts the clear teaching of Scripture on all three
points. When God's revealed truth goes beyond his creaturely abilities to
understand, the Calvinist does not elevate his mental capabilities as the final
measure of the possible. He accepts in faith what God has said even when he
cannot fully understand it.
Because the Bible is a true
revelation of eternal truths, proper Biblical interpretation often involves a
degree of "learned ignorance." A few other examples of intellectually
humbling truths are the Trinity, the Incarnation, the relationship of time and
eternity, and the genuine temptation of the impeccable Christ.
For a fuller discussion of
Calvinism, go to http:\\capo.org\cpc\grace.htm.