One of the things that bothers me is the way 5
points has to carefully word everything to hide their view. That is not
natural.
-- I can assure you, no one is hiding anything, and if what I have
written in the past seemed less than clear, or if it was presented in such a way
as to make it seem like I was trying to hide the view, then I do apologize.
Some presentations of the view can be a bit harder to understand, but I
believe much (actually, most) that has been and is produced to explain the
Reformed view is outstanding and understandable.
However, I have also discovered in
listening and reading many non-Reformed responses to the Reformed view that very
often it seems that they are simply not listening to what is being clearly said.
I’m not sure why that it is, but I will give them the benefit of the
doubt, because some of these matters are very difficult.
We are all influenced by our sin nature, and our judgment can be clouded.
The Reformed person is not immune to this either.
Anyway, what I would recommend is that you step back, and just read
carefully, and interact in a meaningful way with what solid Reformed teachers
are saying. I think once you do
that, your concerns in this area will disappear.
You still may not accept the views, but you will not get the sense that
anyone is trying to hide their view. I
can assure you, we are not.
To get back to me, and if I have been unclear or if it has seemed that I
am hiding what I believe, let me try to alleviate that now by stating, as
briefly and clearly as I can, what I have been trying to say:
I believe in all of the infinite perfections of God’s Being, which
include His absolute sovereignty, omnipotence, and omniscience.
It’s not that God can exercise those things, but then chooses not to,
but that He must and does exercise those things, because that is who He is by
nature, and because of those things He is able to accomplish all of His purposes
to His glory. It is the actual
exercise of those things that make Him God.
To speak of a god who does not exercise his absolute sovereignty is a
contradiction in terms along the same lines of saying that water isn’t wet,
ice isn’t frozen, or a government doesn’t govern (once a government fails to
govern, it is no longer a government). The
absolute sovereignty of God is the most basic, elementary truth revealed in
Sacred Scripture, and serves as the foundation upon which all other truths rest.
Jonathan Edwards, the 18th Century Puritan who is considered
by all objective observers to be the greatest scholar America has ever produced,
described God’s sovereignty as “His
absolute right of disposing of all creatures according to His own pleasure.” Again, it isn’t that God
has the right to dispose of all creatures according to His pleasure, and then
doesn’t. Rather, it is that He
acts on His right, and actually does with all of His creatures as He wishes,
according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11).
Because I believe these things about God, I believe that God will not and
cannot fail to accomplish all of His holy will.
This sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, absolutely Perfect God, from
before the foundation of the earth, decreed and implemented, for lack of better
words, a perfect plan of salvation (Eph 1:11; Eph 1:4-5; Rev 13:8; Rom 8:28 –
34). In this perfect “plan” of
salvation, He chose to create the world, and allow for the fall of Adam and all
of his posterity, who sinned in Adam (Rom 5:12-14). (Note:
as a result of this sin, man incurred spiritual death, and as such lost
all ability to incline himself savingly to the things of God (1 Cor 2:14; Rom
8:7-8)). God chose to save an innumerable number of those sinners, and He chose
to pass over the rest (Rev 7:9; John 6:37, 44, 65; Rom 9:8-21).
He did this according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph 1:5), to the
praise of His glorious grace on the one hand, and to the praise of His justice
on the other (Rom 9:17-23; Eph 1:6; Matt 11:25; 2 Thes 1:8; 2 Tim 2:19-20; 1 Pet
2:8; Rev 15:3-4). All those that He
chose to save, He chose to save not because of anything good in them, or
anything good foreseen in them, but according to the kind intention of His will,
and the unspeakable riches of His grace
alone (2 Tim 1:9; Psalm 65:4; Matt 11:25-27; Acts 13:48, 18:27; Rom 9:10-16,
11:5-10; Eph 1:4-6; 2:1-6; Phil 1:29). All
of the ones He chose from before the foundation of the earth were given to
Christ from before the foundation of the earth, and Christ is the Lamb of
God slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:9; John
6:37,44,65; John 10:15,26-30). Thus,
God loved these ones He chose (His sheep) in Christ before time even
began (Rom 8:28;Eph1:4). The Son,
in the fullness of time, carried out and accomplished everything necessary to infallibly
bring about and secure the salvation of every single person that was
given to Him by the Father from before the foundation of the earth (John
6:37-40;10:15;26-30). And the Holy
Spirit now infallibly applies all of the benefits that were secured by
Christ to every single person that God has chosen to save from all
eternity (John 1:12-13; 8:42-47; 1 Cor 2:10; Phil 1:29; Eph 2:1-9; 2 Tim 1:9;
Titus 3:5-7). (Please understand
that the Scripture references quoted are just a sampling of what could be
quoted. It is by no means an
exhaustive listing).