Calvinism Defended:
The Sovereignty of God
By
This is the ninth section of the e-mail exchange I had with Bill, an individual who objected against Calvinism. Click here to go back to the table of contents, or here to go to the full 88 page exchange.
In this part of the exchange, Bill attempts to answer my request that I posed to him in my first e-mail response to him. I have provided the portion of my first e-mail response to Bill that contains my request. Bill's reply follows in red font, and then my reply to that is in blue font.
From My First E-mail:
...First, I take this mean that you do not agree with what I have written concerning God’s sovereignty, etc. (That’s okay, I just want to make sure that I am following you here). If you do disagree, then I would respectfully ask that you point out some specifics about what you disagree with, and provide a biblical response (instead of a purely philosophical one) that:
a. Establishes and proves your understanding of the nature of God and the nature man (i.e., his “freewill”), [note to the reader: Bill provided a response at this point (see www.geocities.com/johnandursula/calvinismdefendedimage)].
b. Deals with the texts that might contradict your understanding (note, in dealingwith those texts, you must provide an accurate exegesis of those texts, i.e., one that is both faithful to what the passage teaches in context, and obviously does not contradict other passages).
Bill's Response: Could you name a few?
I quoted quite a few in my article, such as
John 6, which you never responded to. I’ve
also quoted passages above. But,
since this is the point in the response where you asked, I will provide more
texts. I will comment on many, and
others I will just let stand:
God’s
Sovereignty
Westminster
Confession of Faith on this point in 5:1, “God the great Creator
of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions,
and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy
providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and
immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom,
power, justice, goodness, and mercy.” Before
providing the texts, let me say that if you disagree with that statement, your
disagreement is not with Calvinism, but with any form of monotheism.
In other words, to disagree with that statement would, for all intents
and purposes, make you an Atheist. Here
are a few texts:
Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth.” (Compare
also Psalm 104, where we find the first use of “Praise the Lord” in the
psalm is in response to God’s Providence).
-- This may seem elementary, but I think it is important to understand
that without God’s sovereignty, there never would have been a creation.
He was (and is) sovereign over every detail of His creation, and creation
is something that only a sovereign God can do.
When we read through the creation account, we see how God created each sphere of creation precisely the way He wanted to, and endowed each sphere with the attributes that He determined they would have. A.W. Pink states:
“He
(God) might create or not create according to His own good pleasure.”
Pink goes on to make two other points concerning the creation account and
God’s sovereignty that I think are well worth remembering:
“Learn this basic truth, that the Creator is absolute Sovereign,
executing His own will, performing His own pleasure, and considering nothing but
His own glory…The Lord hath made all things for Himself (Prov 16:4)”
Pink also states, “If then we see the sovereignty of God displayed
throughout all creation why should it be a strange thing if we behold it
operating in the midst of the human family?
Why should it be thought strange if to one God is pleased to give five
talents and to another only one? Why
should it be thought strange if one is born with a robust constitution and
another of the same parents is frail and sickly? Why should it be thought strange that…some be born idiots
and others with high intellectual endowments; some born lethargic and others
full of energy…Why should it be thought strange that some are qualified by
nature to lead and rule, and others only fitted to follow and serve?
Heredity and environment cannot account for all these variations and
inequalities. No; it is God who
maketh one to differ from another.”
What this demonstrates is
that the doctrine of Divine Providence/Sovereignty flows from the fact that God
is Creator. He created the heavens
and the earth. He created diversity
among persons. He is in control of
all aspects of creation, and over all aspects within His creation.
Genesis 15:2 “And Abram said, Lord God,
what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is
this Eliezer of Damascus?”
-- God is in control over the ability of persons to bear children. Simply
put, God is the one who determines who will and will not go childless, and He
determines when a woman will become pregnant (regardless even if the woman is
taking some form of birth control! Many
women have complained how they still got pregnant after having been on the
pill), and He determines how many children a person will in fact have.
As one who holds to the creationist theory, all of this is just common
sense, is it not?
Genesis 20:6
“And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this
in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me:
therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.”
-- God has the power to keep people from sinning.
God here, as the omnipotent Creator and sovereign of the universe, is in
control even of the decisions and actions of men. This directly contradicts every man-centered theology that
teaches that God does not move the “will” of man wherever He so desires.
God directs the will of men wherever He sees fit to accomplish His own
ends. The Scriptural support for
that is absolutely massive—just read any prophetic statement in Scripture.
Exodus 4:21 “And the Lord said unto
Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders
before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart,
that he shall not let the people go.”
-- Many people when confronted with the hardening of Pharaohs heart, in
order to absolve God, will say that Pharaoh essentially hardened his own heart
(which is in fact what you end up doing a bit later). While that is true in one sense, it still does not adequately
deal with the passages that expressly state that God Himself hardened
Pharaoh’s heart. The Scripture is
manifestly clear though that God hardened
Pharaohs heart, and He did so to accomplish His own purposes. No amount of
side-stepping can change the fact.
Now, we must address how it
is that God hardened Pharaohs heart. Some
believe that God’s hardening of Pharaoh is passive.
That is, God doesn’t work in Pharaoh and create new evil in his heart.
Rather, God simply stops working in a positive sense in the heart of
Pharaoh, and as a result, Pharaohs heart grows harder.
For example, when you apply water to hard soil, it will eventually become
mud. But, when you stop applying
the water to the soil, and allow the sun to bake that soil, it will become hard
again. You see, the nature of the
soil is hard already. By direct intervention on your part, the soil can be made
soft and be turned into mud. But,
the lack of intervention on your part will result in the soil returning to its
natural state: hard. The human
heart is naturally hard. The only
way that it becomes soft is by the direct intervention of God. But if God does not intervene, the heart will return to its
natural state: hard.
While some prefer to state that God is passive in the act of hardening
here, or even in the act of reprobation, I believe we must always view God as
active in everything that transpires. In
other words, if we want to say that God is passive in the hardening of
Pharaoh’s heart or the reprobation of sinners in the sense that God does not
force or create any more evil than is already present, fine.
However, God is still active in the sense that He has actively made a
choice to act in a certain way, and not another way, toward Pharaoh and/or the
reprobate. And, we must also notice
that Scripture does not say how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
It simply asserts that God did it. In
order to do something, one must be active in some sense.
Doing is related to activity just as not doing is related to inactivity,
and inactivity is related to passivity. When
it is maintained that God is solely passive in such things as the hardening of
Pharaohs heart, the danger is to think of God as not doing anything.
Exodus 34:24
“For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy
borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to
appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.”
-- God’s promise to Israel is that He will cast out the nations before
them and enlarge their borders. But,
what about the free will of the inhabitants of those lands? What if they somehow found the intestinal fortitude to thwart
this plan? God assures victory
because God is sovereign. What
about after they go into the land—won’t they have to fear other people who
may want to conquer them and take the land?
God says “neither shall any man desire
thy land.” If man has an
absolutely free will, how can God say that no man would “desire” the land?
Some might argue because God knew beforehand that no man would desire the
land. But we must ask, how is it
that God knew this beforehand? The
reason God knows things beforehand is because God has determined what will
happen beforehand; He determines everything, even what the desires and free
choices of men will be.
Deut. 2:30 “But Sihon king of Heshbon
would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made
his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this
day.”
-- This is a similar scenario as that of Pharaoh, and the same
explanation I provided with reference to Pharaoh applies here as well.
Deut 32:39 39 "See now that I myself
am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have
wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.” (NIV)
-- God is sovereign in death, life, wounding and healing.
None can deliver from His hand. God
is the One who does things. Where
is man’s free will in this? Where
is man’s power in this? Where is
“synergy” in this? All that
occurs is but the outworking of Divine Providence, and there is no power in
Heaven or on Earth that can change that (i.e., that can deliver out of His
hand).
Joshua 11:19-20
19“There was not a city that made peace with the children
of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in
battle. 20 For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that
they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly,
and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord
commanded Moses.”
-- God will accomplish His sovereign purposes, and He does so even by
ensuring that “free moral agents” exercise their “free will” in the
direction He so desires. Here God
hardens the hearts of the enemies of Israel.
The purpose for this was that “they might come against Israel in
battle, that He might utterly destroy them.”
Judges 7:22 “And the three hundred blew the
trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout
all the host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border
of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.”
-- What would cause fellow soldiers to desire to slay each other, men who
were sworn to protect one another and to fight side by side against their
enemies? Again we see that God, to
ensure His sovereign purposes are accomplished, “set every man’s sword
against his fellow…” Where
is “synergy” here?
Judges 9:23 “Then God sent an evil
spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt
treacherously with Abimelech:”
-- God accomplishes His purposes, period.
Here, he sends an “evil spirit” to cause dissension between Abimelech
and the men of Shechem. God’s
purpose was to punish Abimelech, and this was the means whereby He was going to
do it, and notice, it did not fail.
1 Samuel 23:11-12 “Will the men of
Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath
heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord
said, He will come down. [12] Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me
and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee
up.”
-- So much for the “free will” of Saul, the men of Keilah, and of
David! God tells David what will
surely come to pass in the immediate future, and these all involve the “free
decisions” of the persons involved. But
the thing is, they could not choose the contrary.
The choices they would make were set before they ever made them.
How can that be said to be freedom in the sense in which you and other
non-Reformed folks which to maintain?
2 Kings 19:25
“Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient
times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest
be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.”
-- The Lord makes it clear that His purposes were conceived of
“long ago” and “of ancient times [He] formed it…”
Clearly when the Scripture states here “long ago” and “of
ancient times” what is in view is before time even existed.
Notice, it is what God has done, and what He has formed.
Where is “synergy” here?
Ezra 7:27 “Blessed be the Lord God of
our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to
beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem:”
Job 23:13-15 (NKJV) “13 But He is
unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He
does. 14 For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with
Him. 15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am
afraid of Him.”
-- Job asks “who can make Him change?”
What is in view is God’s sovereign decree’s from all eternity, for
Job says, “He performs what is appointed for me…” God is also the only Being in the universe with an absolutely
“free will”, as Job declares, “whatever His soul desires, that He does.”
Finally, Job recognizes God’s absolute sovereignty in his life.
He recognizes that the only things that come to him are from the hand of
Providence, “He performs what is appointed for me…” Simply put, God
is the Potter, and we are the clay, and He does whatsoever He desires with the
clay, and the clay cannot complain and say, “why did you make me this
way?” (see Rom 9:20-21)
Job 37:13 “He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for
his land, or for mercy.”
-- God is the ultimate cause of all things, and it is all for a purpose.
Psalm 22:28 “For the kingdom is
the Lord's: and He is the governor among the nations.”
-- It is important to realize that there is no earthly power that was not
ordained of God, and is not ultimately subject to God’s direction, and that
does not ultimately carry out God’s predetermined plans and purposes.
This is a difficult concept to grasp, particularly as we think about such
governments as Emperor Nero of Rome and Hitler’s Nazi Germany. But, God’s
providence works in and through all of those things.
To deny that would be to deny that God is actually governing the
universe, or that He is the governor of among the nations.
Psalm 65:4 “Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in
thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy
holy temple.”
-- Notice two things here: First,
there is the aspect of God’s sovereign choice.
Second, God must “cause” (empower, enable, etc.) that one whom He has
chosen to approach Him. It is all
the work of an absolutely sovereign God. In
this one verse, contained in the Old Testament, we see 2 of the 5 points of
Reformed theology demonstrated (Unconditional Election and Irresistible Grace).
Psalm 71:6
“By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art He
that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of
Thee.”
-- The Psalmist recognizes that nothing but the power of a sovereign and
gracious God has “held” him up since his birth.
He ascribes praise to God alone for this.
The non-Reformed view would have man holding himself up, and pulling
himself up by his cooperative power.
Psalm
94:8-12 “Understand, ye
brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? [9] He that
planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?
[10] He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man
knowledge, shall not he know? [11] The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that
they are vanity. [12] Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and
teachest him out of thy law;”
-- God is the One who plants the natural ear and gives ears to hear (and
gives us spiritual ears to hear). God is the One who forms the natural eye (and,
gives us eyes to see spiritually). And
notice, being chastened and taught of the Lord is not something that is
guaranteed for every single person who will ever live.
Rather, the verse says “blessed is the man whom thou…”
In other words, there are some that the Lord, according to His sovereign
choice, does not chasten or teach. The
fact that He has chosen to chastise and teach one and not another is something
that can only be attributed to the amazing grace of God, and it is to be looked
upon by us as a blessing received from the hand of God.
As Reformation theology would then assert, “to God alone be the
glory.”
Psalm 95:7 “For he is our God; and we
are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
-- We are His people, and His sheep, but notice, we are the sheep of
His hand. This speaks to
the fact that it is God, and not we ourselves, who has formed us, and it is only
the Sovereign Potter who can form us by His omnipotent hand into His sheep.
Psalm 100:3
“Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is He that hath made us, and
not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.”
Psalm 105:25
“He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly
with his servants.”
Psalm 115:3
“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased.”
Psalm 135:4-7
“For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his
peculiar treasure. [5] For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is
above all gods. [6] Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in
earth, in the seas, and all deep places. [7] He causeth the vapours to ascend
from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the
wind out of his treasuries.”
Proverbs 16:9 “A man's heart deviseth
his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.”
Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the
lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:1 “The king's heart is in
the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he
will.”
-- Some might argue that God only does this to kings, but this would be a
really bad argument. The point is
that even the most powerful among men, i.e., kings, are not able to hold back
the hand of God, and are subject to God’s sovereign directing. If the most powerful among us are nothing but putty in
God’s hands, and God turns the kings heart wherever He wants to, how much more
those who are the “weaker” among us? It seems almost absurd at this point to
have to declare “God is control!” This is all that the Calvinist is saying.
Isaiah 25:8 “He will swallow up
death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all
faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the
earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.”
-- Whatever the Lord has spoken will
come to pass. There is no power in
heaven, on earth, or below earth that can prevent God from swallowing up death
in victory, wiping away tears from off all faces, and taking away the rebuke of
His people from off the earth. As a
side note, notice the word “all.” A
common objection to the Reformed view is that Calvinists “redefine” words,
and the anthem that is usually trumpeted over and over again is “all” means
all!” So ingrained is this type
of narrow thinking by some people, that no matter how times it is demonstrated
that the word “all” must be interpreted in its context, and that we must
determine how the word “all” is being used, and that the word “all”
doesn’t always refer to the same, the same thing is parroted over and over
again: “all means all!” Be
that as it may, I will try to set forth some basic concepts that must be adhered
to if we are to have any hope of attaining a correct interpretation of this word
“all.”
First, we must determine
“all” of “what.” In other
words, what is “all” referring to? All
dogs, all cats, all brown dogs, all gray cats, all Gentiles, all Jews, all
people, all saved people, etc. Non-Reformed
people fail to qualify this. When they see the word “all” in Scripture as it relates
to salvation, they take it to mean that “all” refers to every single person
who ever has or ever will live. But,
is this what the Scripture means? In
this verse quoted here, does the word “all” mean every single person who
ever has or ever will live? If the
non-Reformed meaning is true, then that means that God will wipe away the tears
from the face of every single person who ever has or ever will live, even
those who die outside of Christ. Obviously,
unless one believes that every single person who ever has or ever will live will
be saved, this verse cannot refer to every single person who ever has or ever
will live. It refers to every
single person who ever has lived or will live whom God has chosen to save.
Isaiah 14:27 “For the Lord of hosts hath
purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back?”
-- God’s sovereign purposes will, not might, come to pass, and there is
no power that can stop Him, to include the so-called “free” will of
impotent, puny man who is like the grass of the field and whose life is but a
vapor. Non-Reformed theology seems
to teach the exact opposite view. What
is implicit in that teaching is that the will of the creature is able to turn
back God’s outstretched hand. God’s
purpose in saving an individual is frustrated over and over again in the
non-Reformed view. God purposes,
but man’s “freewill” “disannuls” it all.
God’s hand is stretched out, and man turns it back.
Isaiah 19:14-15
“The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst
thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken
man staggereth in his vomit. [15] Neither shall there be any work for Egypt,
which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.”
Isaiah 37:26 “Hast thou not heard long
ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now
have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced
cities into ruinous heaps.”
Isaiah 45:9-10
“Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or
thy work, He hath no hands? [10] Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What
begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?”
Isaiah 50:4
“The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I
should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in
the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
-- This verse, strictly speaking, applies to Jeremiah. However, the principles that can be gleaned from it are:
1. God knows every human
being before they are born, and He forms each one in the womb (and I agree with
you Bill, a baby in the womb can indeed be filled with the Holy Ghost, e.g.,
John the Baptist).
2. “before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…” Destinies are in the hand of
the Lord, and He sets persons apart as He sees fit.
3. “I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations..” God ordains persons to particular,
specific functions, in this case Jeremiah was appointed by the Lord as a
prophet.
4. Where does free will fit
into this? It doesn’t.
A person has no control over when, where, how, and for what purpose they
are born. They have no control over
the color of their eyes, hair or skin, no control over their height, no control
over who their parents are, etc. Why
is that one person is a janitor, and the other person is the CEO of a
corporation? Granted, each one has
to make choices in their life that has consequences, etc., but ultimately, what
is the difference? It is God.
Jeremiah 32:17, 27 “[17] Ah Lord God!
behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched
out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee…[27] Behold, I am the Lord,
the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”
-- Is
there anything too hard for God? Evidently,
some people believe that it is too hard for God to overcome the free will of
man.
Lam 3:37-38:
“37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not
decreed it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both
calamities and good things come?” (NIV)
-- A human cannot say something will come to pass unless decreed by God.
All things that occur happen only by God’s decree, whether good or bad.
Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my
judgments, and do them.”
-- This passage is also used to demonstrate the truth of Irresistible
Grace. In the passage, God is the
active agent, and the individual is passive.
God is the cause of the individual walking in the statutes of the Lord,
not the persons “free will.” God
is sovereign in this operation, for every single person that God puts His Spirit
in will
walk in His statutes. Does every
single person walk in God’s statutes? No.
Only those whom God has placed His Spirit within.
Dan 4:17 17 “'The decision is announced
by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know
that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to
anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.” (NIV)
Daniel 4:35 “And all the inhabitants of
the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army
of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand,
or say unto him, What doest thou?”
Matthew 10:29-30 “Are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your
Father. [30] But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
-- Even the most insignificant, minute things are under the determination
of God’s providence.
Matthew 11:25 “At that time Jesus
answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes.”
-- God is sovereign over who will and will not receive His truth.
Mark 4:10-12 “And when he was alone,
they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. [11] And he
said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God:
but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: [12] That
seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not
understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be
forgiven them.”
-- How does this square with those who claim that God gives all (i.e.,
every single person who ever has or ever will live) an “opportunity” to be
saved? Again, God is sovereign over
who will and who will not receive His truth.
In the final analysis God is revealing His truth to His sheep, not the
goats, and His sheep, and not the goats, hear His word and follow Him.
Evangelism isn’t about making new sheep, it is about gathering God’s
sheep that have been scattered abroad (John 11:52).
John 3:27 “John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.”
-- John the Baptist’s disciples are seemingly alarmed that the people
are going to Jesus and not to John to be baptized.
John then tells them a man can receive nothing, except it be given him
from heaven, and then goes on to remind them of who he is, and who Jesus is.
The point though is that even in the face of John’s testimony about
Jesus, John’s disciples did not pursue Jesus, and they were perplexed that the
people were going to Jesus instead of John!
John’s response indicates that the only way a person would recognize
and follow the Messiah is if it were “given him from heaven.”
The reason? Man does not
have the ability to receive (i.e., act on) ultimate spiritual truth; he must be
empowered to do so.
John 12: 40
“…He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their
heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their
heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”
Acts 2:22-23
“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by
him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: [23] Him, being delivered and
by the determinate counsel foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain:”
-- This passage demonstrates two truths:
the absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility of men.
.
Acts 3:18 “But those things, which God before had shewed by the
mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.”
-- Any mention of prophecy and its fulfillment is a direct demonstration
of the truth of the Reformed position because in order for prophecy to exist,
certain things must be true:
1. God has already
determined what will happen. In other words, things don’t happen merely because God
knows that they will happen in advance. The
reason He knows what will happen in advance is because He has determined what
will happen.
2. God is directing the
affairs of man toward His predetermined purposes.
Prophecy then is an eloquent and direct refutation
of the philosophically humanistic understanding of free will that much of the
world and the church has embraced in these dark days.
Acts 4:27-28
“For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together, [28] For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel determined before to be done.”
-- Pilate, Herod, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel all had a choice
to make, and the only choice that was possible for them to make was to do
whatsoever God had determined before for them to do.
Their choice was free in the sense that they did precisely what they were
inclined and desired to do at the moment. It
was also determined in the sense that God determined what would be their
strongest desire at the moment (and thus what their choice necessarily would
be). Does this make us
robots? No, it makes us persons who, while created in the image of God, are
nevertheless not God, and who are subject to the providential
control of God.
Acts 13:48 “And when the Gentiles heard
this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed.”
Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose. [29] For whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren. [30] Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. [31] What
shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Romans 9:11-18
“(For the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) [12] It was said unto her,
The elder shall serve the younger. [13] As it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated.
[14] What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. [15] For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I
will have compassion. [16] So then it is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. [17] For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. [18] Therefore hath he mercy on whom he
will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”
Eph 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ: [4] According as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love: [5] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”
Romans 11:36 “For of Him, and through
Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen.”
-- God has ordained all things that come to pass, and all things are
directed toward bringing Him glory.
Philip. 2:13 “For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
2 Thes. 2:11-12 “And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [12] That
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.”
-- The cause for one’s damnation rests squarely on the shoulders of the
individual, but notice, even in that God seals their destiny by sending them a
strong delusion that they should believe a lie. By believing the lie, they believe not the truth, and because
they believe not the truth, they have pleasure in unrighteousness, and because
of this, they are damned.
1 Peter 1:20
“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you,”
-- This passage is referring to Jesus.
The plan of redemption was something that God conceived and brought to
pass from before all eternity.
Jude 1:4 “For there are certain men
crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the
only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
-- Jude tells us that there are certain false teachers who were teaching
a false view of grace and were denying Christ.
What about these teachers though? Does
this all take God by surprise? No.
These teachers were ordained to condemnation.
Some might argue that this is spoken of in general terms, that the
punishment that has been ordained for all those who engage in such activity is
condemnation. However, the verse
does not teach that. It deals with
specifics. Jude says that “certain
men…who were…ordained to this condemnation…”
The ordination is with reference to certain men (i.e., particular
individuals), it was from “before of old” (i.e., before time existed), and
it is unto condemnation.
Rev. 19:6 “And I heard as it were the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of
mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
--
The verse declares that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
The question is, can one who does not hold to the absolute sovereignty of
God in all things, to include salvation, really believe this?
Does the Lord God omnipotent reign, yes or no?
If He does, then that means by virtue of His omnipotence, nothing can
thwart His purposes and all of His plans will come to pass without fail.
As it relates to salvation, that means, by virtue of His omnipotence, God
will not fail to save every single person He has chosen to save.
The
point of providing all of these verses is to simply demonstrate that the
overwhelming teaching of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is that God is
the One who is in control of the affairs of human beings.
In a nutshell, God is absolutely sovereign. Everything pertaining to human beings, from the governing of
nations to the governing of individuals (most significantly individual
salvation) is accomplished by the hand of Divine providence.
God is indeed the all-powerful, all-knowing, absolute sovereign of all
creation. Nothing and no one can
thwart His purposes. A.W. Pink, in defining God’s sovereignty in light of what
the Bible clearly teaches with regard to it, states, “To say that God is
sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in
heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or
resist His will…the sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute,
irresistible, infinite…God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as
He pleases: that whatever takes
place in time is but the outworking of that which He decreed in eternity.
“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased.” (Psalm 115:3).
Many
non-Reformed people, when confronted with these issues, still claim to believe
in the sovereignty of God. My reply
is, how can that be? The
non-Reformed person cannot say that nothing can thwart the purposes of God,
because it maintains that people, whom God desires to save, fail to get saved
because of their “free will.” The
anti-Reformed position actually turns God into the biggest failure in the
history of mankind, because He has not been able to bring about the salvation of
those whom He has purposed to save.
I
realize that is a radical statement; however, I make this statement in light of
what some very prominent non-Reformed people have actually taught, specifically,
the Word of Faith teachers. I
realize that many non-Reformed people do not adhere to Word of Faith teaching.
However, the proponents of the Word of Faith movement (Kenneth Copeland,
Fredrick Price, etc.), at least understand the logical implications of
maintaining that man’s will, and not God’s, ultimately is the deciding
factor in what transpires in history. Here
are some quotes from them that are perfectly consistent with the non-Reformed
view, and why I for one believe we are in need of another Reformation, where we
recover the truth of God’s absolute sovereignty that is espoused solely in
Reformation theology:
“God
has to be given permission to work in this earth realm on behalf of man…Yes!
You are in control! So, if
man has control, who no longer has it? God...So,
God cannot do anything in this earth unless we let Him.
And the way we let Him or give Him permission is through prayer.”
- Frederick Price
“I
was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually
is…The biggest one in the whole Bible is God…Now, the reason you don’t
think of God as a failure is He never said He’s a failure.
And you’re not a failure till you say you’re one.”
– Kenneth Copeland
“God’s
on the outside looking in. He
doesn’t have any legal entrée into the earth.
The thing don’t belong to Him. You
see how sassy the Devil was in the presence of God in the book of Job?
God said, Where have you been? Wasn’t
any of God’s business. He (Satan)
didn’t have to answer if he didn’t want to.”
- Kenneth Copeland
“The
Bible says that God gave this earth to the sons of men…and when (Adam) turned
and gave that dominion to Satan, look where it left God.
It left Him on the outside looking in…He had no legal right to do
anything about it, did He?…What Satan had intended for Him to was to fall for
it—pull off an illegal act and turn the light off in God, and subordinate God
to himself…He intended to get God into such a trap that He couldn’t get
out.”
- Kenneth Copeland
“When
Adam bowed the knee to Satan, he shut God out.
God found himself on the outside looking in. His man, Adam, had lost his authority…God was left on the
outside. God couldn’t come here in His divine power and wipe them out.
He had to move in an area where it would be ruled legal by the Supreme
Court of the Universe.” – Charles Capps
Note:
The quotes above are drawn from the book “Christianity In
Crisis” by Hank Hanegraaff. He
provides the precise sources where he drew the quotes from.
Well,
needless to say, that is a very different idea about God and His sovereignty.
The important thing to consider though is that the above quotes are in
perfect harmony with the anti-Reformed understanding of the will of man and the
sovereignty of God. Though
non-Reformed people may object to that observation, I challenge them to critique
the above statements according to their own theological understanding of the
human will and divine sovereignty, and see where there is any inconsistency.
What I believe they will discover is that the above quotes are merely the
logical consequence of denying the deadness of man in sin and the absolute
sovereignty of God. The Word of Faith teachers are consistent Arminian’s/non-Reformational
theologians. They just have the
guts to admit the logical conclusions of their unbiblical theology.