The Great Debate
When debating the doctrine between Calvinists and non-Calvinists usually the debate begins to run in circles when this question is posed:
If man has a free will to chose or reject salvation, what factor causes some to surrender and others to resist?
From the Calvinists perspective, their purpose for asking this question is to deposit their antithesis at the doorway where they would enter into a place of submission to the right answer which is Calvinism and the 5 solas.
· sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone)
· sola Fide (by Faith alone)
· sola Gratia (by Grace alone)
· solus Christus (through Christ alone)
· soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone)
Alone, this list is a wonderful and beautiful, biblically sound literary expression of Dietys sovereignty working Salvation in the wicked hearts of men.
Similarly, if you were to ask Calvinists what makes God chose one and not another, their answer is the same
God is sovereign, and He can do what He wants, when He wants.
The non-Calvinists answer to the Calvinists question about what makes someone chose and someone else not chose is an eternal biblical condition that God Himself has answered through generations of people throughout the testimony of Scripture.
The consistent answer to the above question by non-Calvinists is I dont know why.
The real answer is found in Christ.
The same Spirit and battle and temptation that worked in Lucifer, Adam, Cain, Abraham, Sarah, David, Ahab and Josiah and everyone else that God has ever created continues today.
All these men heard the Word of the Lord and all these men chose, to different extents, to ignore the Word of the Lord.
The difference is that as it is written about Abraham, some of these men believed what God said of Himself to be true, and it was counted to them for righteousness.
Now what happens and why some believe, must truly be attributed to God and His goodness, mercy and grace. Ultimately, attributed to His love.
The resistance to believe and obey the Spirit of God working in us to draw us to salvation is our decision alone.
Gods will is perfect, He is sovereign, holy and pure and is always towards salvation and the reconciling of His creation all-the-while being just and jealous for His Namesake and His Sacrifice.
To pinpoint why some come into submission to the drawing of the Holy Spirit and why some resist that drawing is an eternal and deep mystery. A mystery that does have an answer.
A mystery that has played itself out generation after generation of mankind, beginning in the heavenlies.
It played out in Lucifer, Adam, Moses, Judas, Paul and most recently in you and me.
So, in the great debate between Calvinists and non-Calvinists, the next time someone asks, Why do some men chose salvation and others dont?, tell them, for the same reason that Lucifer and the patriarchal audience of Stephen the martyr resisted Gods will to the uttermost and Job and the archangel Michael submitted to it.
2 Samuel 22
To the Glory and Majesty of our King & His Wonderful Sovereignty.
|
