03.06. SALVATION

Systematic Theology

6. SALVATION

ELECTED

SUMMONED

REGENERATED

CONVERTED

JUSTIFIED

ADOPTED

SANCTIFIED

PRESERVED

We will now turn to study in what way and in what order the benefits of redemption are applied to the elect. Some of these benefits occur or begin simultaneously in the new Christian when he believes in Christ, so that the order of application may not always be chronologically distinguishable, but the fact that some benefits are the preconditions of others implies that there is a logical order for the application of redemption.

It is possible to derive an outline of the order of the application of redemption from Romans 8:29-30, although we must also consider a number of other biblical passages to obtain the full list of items and their positions on the list: 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. This chapter will present the application of the benefits of redemption in the following order: election, calling, regeneration, conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, and preservation.

ELECTED The biblical doctrine of ELECTION teaches that God has chosen a definite number of individuals to obtain salvation through faith in Christ. The exact identities of these people have been determined and are unchangeable. God has chosen these individuals without any consideration of their decisions, actions, and other conditions in them, but the basis of his choice was his will alone. He chose these people for salvation just because he wanted to choose them, and not because he foresaw anything that they will decide or perform.

Although I will more fully discuss the doctrine of election and respond to several objections in this section, I have already been explaining and defending the doctrine throughout this book, and all the arguments in support of absolute sovereignty and divine election that had appeared in the previous chapters also apply to this section. Remembering this will reduce the need for repetition. Our first biblical passage comes from Romans 9:1-33. Although national Israel was supposedly God’s chosen nation, most of its people had rejected Christ, and thus were kept from salvation. Does this mean that God’s promise toward Israel had failed? Paul resolves this question in his letter to the Romans:

It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." (Romans 9:6-9)

Although "Israel" was God’s chosen nation, not everyone born a natural Israelite was a genuine Israelite. God never made the promise of salvation to national Israel, but only to the true descendants of Abraham, which constitutes the spiritual Israel. When his opponents claimed to be the descendants of Abraham, Jesus replied, "If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things" (John 8:38-40). Although these people were Abraham’s natural descendants, Jesus said that they were not his real children, but that their father was the devil (John 8:44). On the other hand, Paul writes, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29). Those who have the faith of Abraham are the genuine children of Abraham (Romans 4:16). The promise of God was made to the spiritual descendants of Abraham, not to the natural descendants. Of course, the natural descendants of Abraham who believe in Christ are also his spiritual descendants, and thus are also heirs to the promise, but they are heirs only on account of their spiritual heritage and not their natural heritage.

Paul then cites the example of Jacob and Esau: Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad ­ in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls ­ she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Romans 9:10-13)

Although both Jacob and Esau were natural descendants of Isaac, God treated them differently by favoring the younger over the elder. This decision was not based on "anything good or bad" that they had done, but it was so that "God’s purpose in election might stand." The choice was unconditional, meaning that it was "not by works but by him who calls." Jacob was favored because of the sovereign will of God, not because of something that he had done or would do; God’s choice was completely independent of any condition in Jacob. As verse 15 says, "For he says to Moses, ’I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’" Verse 16 expresses the necessary conclusion: "It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy."

Paul says that God saved us "because of his own purpose and grace," not because of any condition that he saw in us, and he gave us this saving grace "before the beginning of time" (2 Timothy 1:9). "He predestined us," Paul writes, "in accordance with his pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1:5), not because of what he knew we would decide or perform. We are called "according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). To the Thessalonians, Paul writes, "He has chosen you" (1 Thessalonians 1:4), and not, "You have chosen him." He repeats this in his next letter to them and says, "God chose you to be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:13), and not, "You chose yourselves to be saved." Election does not depend on man’s decisions or actions, but on the mercy of God that is dispensed by his sovereign will alone.

Jesus says the following in John 6:37; John 6:44:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:37 says that everyone that the Father gives to Jesus will come to Jesus, and John 6:44 excludes everyone else from coming to Jesus. That is, everyone will be saved whom the Father gives to Jesus (John 6:37), and no one will be saved whom the Father does not give to Jesus (John 6:44). Since other biblical passages indicate that not everyone will be saved, it necessarily follows that the Father does not give every person to Jesus to be saved. The word translated "draws" in John 6:44 also means "drags," "pulls," or even "compels," so that it may read, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me drags him, pulls him, and compels him." For example, the word is translated as "dragged" and "dragging" in the NIV in the following verses: When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. (Acts 16:19) The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. (Acts 21:30) But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? (James 2:6)

Keeping in mind the total depravity of man (Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23), that he is spiritually dead and cannot respond to or even request any assistance, Jesus is saying that no one can have faith in him unless chosen and compelled by the Father. Since faith in Christ is the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12), and since it is the Father alone and not the human individuals themselves who chooses those who would come to Christ, it follows that it is the Father who chooses who would receive salvation, and not the human individuals themselves.1 Jesus repeats this teaching in John 6:63-66 :

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. No one can come to Jesus unless enabled by the Father; that is, no one has the ability to accept Jesus unless the Father gives it to him. This same passage shows that the Father does not give this ability to everyone, since many of them did not believe and "many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."2

Jesus says to his disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16; also John 15:19). He says, "No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). In Matthew 22:14, he says, "For many are invited, but few are chosen," and not, "For many are invited, but few accept the invitation." That is, many people may hear the preaching of the gospel, but only those "appointed for eternal life" (Acts 13:48) can and will believe. The elect are those "whom [God] has chosen" (Mark 13:20). Believers have been "chosen by grace" (Romans 11:5), and they are those who "by grace had believed" (Acts 18:27). Thus one does not choose himself for salvation by accepting Christ, but one receives salvation by accepting Christ because God has chosen him first. Faith is not the cause of election, but election is the cause of faith. We believe in Christ because God first chose us to be saved and then caused us to believe in Christ. We are saved because God chose us, not because we chose him. The following lists a number of biblical passages relevant to the doctrine of election, including fuller quotations of those passages that are only partially cited above. Some of these passages are also relevant to the other topics that we will discuss later in this chapter:

Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. (Psalms 65:4)

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27) For many are invited, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14)

If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. (Mark 13:20)

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit ­ fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16)

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:19) When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48) When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. (Acts 18:27) 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. (Romans 8:28) And Isaiah boldly says, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." (Romans 10:20) And what was God’s answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day." (Romans 11:4-8) 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. (Ephesians 1:4-6) In him we were also chosen, having been predestined 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. (Ephesians 1:11-12) For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. (Php 1:29-30)3

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. (Php 2:12-13)4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5) For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)5 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:13)6 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life ­ not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:8-10) But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)7 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. (Revelation 17:8)8

They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings ­ and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. (Revelation 17:14) The Bible does not paint the picture of humanity as a group of people drowning in the sea of sin, and as many as would cooperate with Christ would be rescued. Instead, it paints a picture in which all human beings are dead in the water (Ephesians 2:1; Romans 3:10), and have sunken all the way to the bottom (Jeremiah 17:9). Since they are dead, they are unable to cooperate with any assistance, or even request it. In fact, they would choose not to be rescued if left by themselves (Romans 8:7; Colossians 1:21). Against such a situation, the Father has chosen some to be saved by Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 1:4-5) by dragging them out of the water (John 6:44; John 6:65), purely by his own initiative (Romans 9:15). Having done so, he raises them from the dead into new life in Christ (Luke 15:24; Romans 6:13). The biblical doctrine of election teaches that although all human beings deserve endless torment in hell because of their sins, God has chosen to show mercy toward some of them. God chose them before the creation of the universe and the fall of man, and he chose them without consideration of any condition in them, whether good or bad. Having chosen some for salvation, God sent Christ to die as full payment for their sins, so that God may credit the righteousness merited by Christ to them when they come to Christ. On the other hand, those who are not chosen for salvation are appointed for damnation, and they will receive the appropriate punishment for their sins, which is endless torment in hell.

We will now respond to several objections. This will also give us the opportunity to clarify and expand on certain aspects of this doctrine.

Many of those who refuse to accept the biblical view of election assert that God has indeed chosen some for salvation, but the basis for his choice was his FOREKNOWLEDGE. That is, God knew beforehand which individuals would freely accept Christ, and on this basis he has chosen them. This unbiblical view destroys the meaning of election, since it means that God does not choose people for salvation at all, but that he simply accepts the choices of those who would choose themselves for salvation. When the word "foreknowledge" is used in the above manner, it is referring to God’s cognitive awareness of future facts, such as the decisions and actions of individuals. Thus proponents of this view defines divine foreknowledge as prescience. Furthermore, it is implied that this knowledge is passive, so that it is not God who causes the future events that he knows, but he passively grasp what his creatures will cause to occur. In what follows, I will be showing that defining "foreknowledge" as passive prescience generates insuperable problems, and that the term means something different in the Bible.

First, we have already shown that every human being is in himself both unable and unwilling to come to Christ for salvation; a person can and will come to Christ only if the Father enables and compels him to do so (John 6:44; John 6:65). We have also established that the Father does not enable and compel every human being to come to Christ. This means that a person comes to Christ only because the Father causes him to come to Christ.

Since this is true, then to say that election is based on God’s prescience of man’s future decisions is only to say that God knows whom he himself will cause to accept Christ, and such prescience would not be passive. If God elects a person because he knows that this person will accept Christ, but if this person will accept Christ only because God will cause him to do so, then to say that God knows this person will accept Christ is the same as saying that God knows that he will cause this person to accept Christ. God’s election of this person is then still based on his own sovereign decision to choose this person for salvation, and not based on a passive knowledge that this person will accept Christ without God causing him to do so. This is what the Bible teaches, but then it means that divine prescience is not a passive knowledge of what a person will decide or perform, but that it is a knowledge of what God will cause him to decide or perform. Divine prescience is a form of God’s self-knowledge ­ a knowledge of his own plans, and a knowledge of what he will actualize in the future. Therefore, to say that election is based on prescience does not challenge our position at all, since God’s knowledge of the future is never passive, but it is he himself who causes everything that he knows will happen in the future (Isaiah 46:10).

Second, the Bible states that divine election is not based on man’s decisions or actions, that God does not choose someone for salvation because of what this person will decide or perform. For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy....So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses. (Romans 9:15-16; Romans 9:18; NRSV)

Divine election is not based on a passive prescience, and divine prescience is not passive in the first place. God chooses a person because he wants to choose that person, and he knows who will believe the gospel because he knows whom he will cause to believe the gospel.

Third, defining God’s foreknowledge as passive prescience in fact fails to make sense of the biblical passages saying that divine election is based on foreknowledge: 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. (Romans 8:29-30)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (1 Peter 1:1-2) Our opponents would interpret these two passages as saying that divine election is based on foreknowledge in the sense of passive prescience; that is, God has chosen those whom he passively knew would accept Christ.

Now, the structure of Romans 8:29-30 necessarily implies that all the individuals included in one phase of the order of salvation would also enter into all the subsequent phases, and that all the individuals in any phase of the order of salvation have also been included in all the previous phases. Thus all those foreknown are also predestined; all those predestined are also called; all those called are also justified; and all those justified are also glorified.

Michael Magill translates the passage as follows:

Because whom He foreknew, [these] He also predestined... And whom He predestined, these He also called And whom He called, these He also declared-righteous And whom He declared righteous, these He also glorified.9

Therefore, whatever foreknowledge means, everyone who is foreknown by God is also justified by God. However, the passage does not say that it is the people’s faith or choices that are foreknown by God, but that it is the people that are foreknown. Our opponents assume that foreknowledge means prescience in this passage. But since it is the people that are foreknown, since God’s knowledge of the future is exhaustive, and since everyone foreknown is also justified, then it necessarily follows that if one defines foreknowledge as prescience in this passage, one must also understand it to teach universal salvation. That is, if foreknowledge here refers to God’s knowledge of future facts (especially a passive prescience), if foreknowledge is applied to people in this passage and not to their faith or choices, if God knows about all human beings, and if all who are foreknown are justified, then all human beings are justified. But Scripture consistently teaches that not everyone is saved or justified; therefore, foreknowledge as related to divine election, and when used in this passage in particular, cannot mean prescience (especially a passive prescience). Foreknowledge must mean something else.

We will establish that, in a salvific context, the "knowledge" of God refers to his sovereign choice and purposive affection for persons and not to his passive awareness of facts. For example, Matthew 7:23 says, "Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" Since Jesus as God is omniscient, "I never knew you" cannot mean that he has never been aware of these people’s existence, thoughts, and actions. In fact, he knows that they are "evildoers." Therefore, the denial of "knowledge" here is a denial of a salvific relationship, and not a passive awareness of facts. Accordingly, "foreknowledge" would refer to a salvific relationship established in the mind of God before the existence of the chosen individuals; that is, foreknowledge means foreordination.

Many biblical passages employ the concept of foreknowledge in this sense. For example, God says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Of course God would know a person whom he himself intends to create; that is, God knows his own plans. The main sense here is that before Jeremiah was conceived, God has chosen him ­ not that God was pleased with what he passively knew about Jeremiah, but that God has designed and made him.

God’s foreknowledge as election and foreordination is made more evident by the parallelism of the lines in this verse. When one line or expression parallels another line or expression in a verse, one part expands on or clarifies the meaning of the other part. For example, "For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters" (Psalms 24:2) does not necessarily mean that in addition to having "founded it upon the seas," he also "established it upon the waters." Rather, "established it upon the waters" carries a similar meaning as "founded it upon the seas," and helps to clarify its meaning. Another example comes from the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus says, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13). It is not that we are to ask God to "deliver us from the evil one" in addition to "lead us not into temptation," but "deliver us from the evil one" is what is meant by "lead us not into temptation." With this in mind, the parallelism in God’s call to Jeremiah helps to clarify the meaning of "I knew you." Again, Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Or, we may translate the verse as follows:

I knew you before I formed you in the womb, I consecrated you before you were born;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. The words "I knew you" correspond to "I consecrated you" and "I appointed you," and the three expressions carry similar meanings. For God to know Jeremiah in the sense intended here is to consecrate and appoint him for God’s own purpose.

S. M. Baugh also uses this passage to illustrate the meaning of divine foreknowledge, and writes as follows:

Another remarkable example of divine foreknowledge is expressed in Jeremiah 1:5, where God says to Jeremiah:

I knew you before I formed you in the womb, I consecrated you before you emerged from the womb;

I have given you as a prophet to the nations. The first two lines are closely parallel in the number of syllables and word order... But how can God have known Jeremiah before he was even conceived? Because he personally fashioned his prophet, just as he had fashioned Adam from the dust (Genesis 2:7), and just as he fashions all people (Psalms 139:13-16; Isaiah 44:24). God foreknew not only the possibility of Jeremiah’s existence ­ he knows all possibilities indeed ­ but God foreknew Jeremiah by name before he was conceived, because he knew how he would shape and mold his existence.10

Huey writes, "Here it involves a choosing relationship (Genesis 18:19; Deuteronomy 34:10). The Lord was thinking about Jeremiah before he was born. At that time God had already designated Jeremiah to be a prophet."11 The point is that God’s foreknowledge refers to a personal relationship originated by his sovereign decision, and not by a passive awareness of future persons and events. Since nothing occurs apart from his active decree (Matthew 10:29), his knowledge of the future is rooted in his own sovereign will. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology says, "God’s foreknowledge stands related to his will and power. What he knows, he does not know merely as information. He is no mere spectator. What he foreknows he ordains. He wills it."12 In the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, J. M. Gundry-Volf writes:

Rather than referring to speculative or neutral knowledge (i.e., knowledge of who will believe), the Pauline notion of divine foreknowledge is understood by many interpreters as a knowing in the Semitic sense of acknowledging, inclining toward someone, knowledge which expresses a movement of the will reaching out to personal relationship with someone. This kind of knowing is illustrated by the meaning of the Hebrew yada, "to know," in texts such as Amos 3:2; Hosea 13:5; and Jeremiah 1:5....In Paul’s use of proginosko the aspect of pretemporality is added to the Hebrew sense of "know" as "have regard for" or "set favor on." The result is a verb which refers to God’s eternal loving election.13 The article on foreknowledge in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia helps to reinforce several points that we have discussed:

Arminian theology, in all its variant forms, contends that God’s foreknowledge is simply a prescient knowledge, a knowing in advance whether a given person will believe in Christ or reject him. God’s election, therefore, is said to be simply God’s choice unto salvation of those whom He knows in advance will choose to believe in Christ. God foresees the contingent free action of faith and, foreseeing who will believe in Christ, elects those because they do. But this is destructive of the biblical view of election. In biblical thought election means that God elects people, not that people elect God. In Scripture it is God who in Christ decides for us ­ not we who, by making a decision for Christ, decide for God.

Reformation theology has contended that the divine foreknowledge contains the ingredient of divine determination. The Reformers claimed that God indeed foreknows who will believe, because believing in Christ is not a human achievement, but a divine gift imparted to men by God’s grace and Spirit. Thus God’s foreknowledge is not merely prescience, but a knowledge that itself determines the event. That is, in Reformation thought what God foreknows He foreordains.... That God’s foreknowledge contains the idea of divine determination does not rest merely on a few biblical texts but reflects a truth about God that comes to expression in a variety of biblical concepts descriptive of the unique and mysterious character of God’s actions. God’s foreknowledge is itself a form of determination which accounts for the reality of that which is divinely foreknown....14 Thus it is a mistake to define foreknowledge as passive prescience because the Bible means something else by the term.

Now that we have clarified the meaning of foreknowledge, we must apply the correct definition to the passage in dispute, which reads as follows: 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. (Romans 8:29-30) Concerning this passage, Baugh writes: The classic Arminian interpretation of Romans 8:29, that God’s foreknowledge of faith is in view, is clearly reading one’s theology into the text. Paul does not say: "whose faith he foreknew," but "whom he foreknew." He foreknew us....But in Romans 8:29, predestination is not dependent on faith; rather, God predestines us on the basis of his gracious commitment to us before the world was....

Perhaps another rendering better expresses the concept behind Romans 8:29 : "Those to whom he was previously devoted...." This again, is not to say that God’s foreknowledge is devoid of intellectual cognition; to have a personal relation with someone, such as a marriage relation, includes knowledge about that person....God has foreknown us because he fashioned each of us personally and intimately according to his plan.... That Paul refers to this concept of a committed relationship with the phrase whom he foreknew in Romans 8:29 is confirmed by the context....

Further confirmation of "foreknowledge" in Romans 8:29 as referring to a previous commitment is found in a nearby passage, Romans 11:1-2, where proginosko can have only this meaning: "God has not rejected his people, has he? No way! For I also am an Israelite....God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." As in Romans 8:29, the objects of foreknowledge are people themselves rather than historical events or a particular person’s faith.... The Arminian notion of "foreseen faith" is impossible as an interpretation of God’s foreknowledge in Romans 11:1-2, and, consequently, in the earlier passage, Romans 8:29, as well. The latter explains that God initiated a committed relationship from eternity with certain individuals whom he predestined for grace.15

F. F. Bruce agrees, saying that, "God’s foreknowledge here connotes that electing grace which is frequently implied by the verb ’to know’ in the Old Testament. When God takes knowledge of people in this special way, he sets his choice on them."16 Douglas Moo also argues that foreknowledge means foreordination when used in Romans 8:29: In [Arminianism] the human response of faith is made the object of God’s "foreknowledge"; and this foreknowledge, in turn, is the basis for predestination: for "whom he foreknew, he predestined." But I consider it unlikely that this is the correct interpretation. (1) The NT usage of the verb and its cognate noun does not conform to the general pattern of usage....the three others besides the occurrence in this text, all of which have God as their subject, mean not "know before" ­ in the sense of intellectual knowledge, or cognition ­ but "enter into relationship with before" or "choose, or determine, before" (Romans 11:2; 1 Peter 1:20; Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:2). (2) That the verb here contains this peculiarly biblical sense of "know" is suggested by the fact that it has a simple personal object. Paul does not say that God knew anything about us but that he knew us, and this is reminiscent of the OT sense of "know." (3) Moreover, it is only some individuals...who are the objects of this activity; and this shows that an action applicable only to Christians must be denoted by the verb. If, then, the word means "know intimately," "have regard for," this must be a knowledge or love that is unique to believers and that leads to their being predestined. This being the case, the difference between "know or love beforehand" and "choose beforehand" virtually ceases to exist.17

Although foreknowledge in Romans 8:29 cannot mean passive prescience, John Murray contends that even if it does, it still does not challenge the doctrine of election: For it is certainly true that God foresees faith; he foresees all that comes to pass. The question would then simply be: whence proceeds this faith which God foresees? And the only biblical answer is that the faith which God foresees is the faith he himself creates....The interest, therefore, is simply one of interpretation as it should be applied to this passage....On exegetical grounds we shall have to reject the view that "foreknew" refers to the foresight of faith....18 As the Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary says, "In Romans 8:29; Romans 11:2, the apostle Paul’s use of the word foreknew means ’to choose’ or ’to set special affection on.’ The electing love of God, not foresight of human action, is the basis of His predestination and salvation."19

Some people who disagree with this understanding of foreknowledge argue that, if foreknowledge in Romans 8:29 means foreordination, then it would render redundant the word "predestined," since the verse says, "For those God foreknew he also predestined." It seems that the two words are referring to separate concepts in the verse; therefore, they argue that we ought to adopt passive prescience as the definition of foreknowledge.

However, they have failed to read the verse carefully. If the word foreknew means foreordained in this verse, it would be a reference to God’s work of election, that is, his choice of the specific individuals whom he would save. Then, the verse says that these whom God has elected, he has also predestined, not to repeat the concept of election, but that he has set forth a "destination" or purpose in advance for the elect ­ namely, God’s will is for them "to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." Foreknowledge in this verse refers to God’s election of individuals to salvation, and predestination reveals the specific purpose or end that God has designed for his elect. In other words, God has not only chosen the elect to receive salvation from sin, but also to become like his Son, Jesus Christ. The verse is saying that the same people whom God has elected are also the people whom God has given the "destination" or purpose to become like Christ, and that he has made such a decision in advance, and thus he "predestined" them.

Accordingly, Gundry-Volf writes:

Paul distinguishes between divine foreknowledge and divine predestination in Romans 8:29 : "those whom he foreknew, he also predestined." While foreknowledge denotes the exercise of God’s will to establish a special relationship with those whom God graciously elect before all time, predestination expresses God’s appointing of them to a specific goal before all time...In Romans 8:29 this goal is conformity with the image of the Son, a reference to the final salvation of the elect. Foreknowledge as divine choice is thus the basis of predestination to glorification with Christ. Foreknowledge does not have to be understood as foresight of faith in order to be distinguished from predestination.20

Based on the above observations and arguments, it is necessary to understand foreknowledge in Romans 8:29 as foreordination. Kenneth Wuest recognizes this, and translates Romans 8:29-30 as follows:

Because, those whom He foreordained He also marked out beforehand as those who were to be conformed to the derived image of His Son, with the result that He is firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, those whom He thus marked out beforehand, these He also summoned. And those whom He summoned, these He also justified. Moreover, those whom He justified, these He also glorified.21 The word "foreordained" here corresponds to foreknowledge, and the phrase "marked out beforehand" corresponds to predestination. Similarly, these verses in the GNT are translated as follows:

Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers. And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.

We may further confirm this understanding of foreknowledge by examining Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28. The first verse says, "This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." This does not mean that God was passively aware of what men would do to Jesus, but it means that his suffering was in fact God’s "set purpose," which is also the meaning of foreknowledge here. Acts 4:28 also refers to the death of Christ, but it says, "They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen." But we just saw that in Acts 2:23 Peter credits the incident to God’s "set purpose" and "foreknowledge." It is evident that these terms have equivalent meanings, so that God’s foreknowledge refers to his "set purpose" or what he has "decided beforehand." In fact, the words of Acts 4:28 gives us a good definition for God’s foreknowledge ­ it is "what [his] power and will had decided beforehand should happen." As Martin Luther writes, "It is, then, fundamentally necessary and wholesome for Christians to know that God foreknows nothing contingently, but that He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His own immutable, eternal, and infallible will."22

Without further argument, we may conclude that foreknowledge in 1 Peter 1:2 also cannot refer to a passive prescience. The verse says that we are, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Of course we are - ­ the verse means that Christians have been chosen and foreordained for salvation by the sovereign will of God.

Many people make the observation that biblical election contradicts the "free will" of man, and since they insist that man has free will, they accordingly reject the doctrines of absolute sovereignty and divine election as presented in this book. Against this objection, we may simply answer that human beings do not have free will at all. Although many Christians assume that human beings possess free will, this is a pagan notion that can find no support from the Bible.23

R. K. McGregor Wright defines "free will" as follows: "By the term free will I mean the belief that the human will has an inherent power to choose with equal ease between alternatives. This is commonly called ’the power of contrary choice’ or ’the liberty of indifference....’ Ultimately, the will is free from any necessary causation. In other words, it is autonomous from outside determination."24 Free will assumes "the absence of any controlling power, even God and his grace, and therefore the equal ability in any situation to choose either of two incompatible courses of action."25 Assuming such a definition, I contend that man does not have free will. In the first place, it is impossible for finite beings to have free will. If we think of the exercise of the will as the movement of the mind toward a certain direction,26 the question arises as to what moves the mind, and why it moves toward where it moves. Even if we assume that the mind can move itself, we are still left with the question of why it moves itself toward a given direction, that is, why it chooses one option instead of another. If one traces the movement and direction of the mind to factors external to the mind itself ­ factors that impress themselves upon the consciousness from the outside, and thus influencing or determining the decision ­ then how is this movement of the mind free? On the other hand, if one traces the cause to the person’s innate propensities, then this movement of the mind is likewise not free, since such in-built inclinations have not been freely chosen (that is, without external influences) by the person in the first place, yet they determine the decisions that he makes. If a person’s decisions are determined by a mixture of innate propensities and external influences, it remains that he does not have free will.

If the mind makes decisions based on factors, causes, and influences not chosen by the mind itself, then these decisions are not free. Although we may affirm that man has a will, so that the mind can indeed move toward different options, the ability and reason for such movement is never determined by the mind itself, but by something other than the mind itself. Since this is true for all finite beings, it follows that only God possesses free will. As Luther writes against the humanist Erasmus:

It is a settled truth, then...that we do everything of necessity, and nothing by "free-will"; for the power of "free-will" is nil...It follows, therefore, that "free-will" is obviously a term applicable only to the Divine Majesty; for only He can do, and does (as the Psalmist sings) "whatever he wills in heaven and earth" (Psalms 135:6). If "free-will" is ascribed to men, it is ascribed with no more propriety than divinity itself would be ­ and no blasphemy could exceed that!27 No one under the dominion of sin can simply "decide" to be free from it without God’s intervention, nor would the person wish to be free from sin before such an intervention occurs. Salvation is wholly the work of God, so that no one may boast of his works or even his "good sense" in that he has "chosen" Christ (John 15:16; Ephesians 2:8). Even after one has become a Christian, "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose" (Php 2:13).

Scripture teaches that God is the one who determines the thoughts and decisions of man. He exercises immediate control over the mind of man, and determines all the innate propensities and external factors relevant to him. It is God who forms a person in the womb, who determines his inward dispositions, and who arranges his outward circumstances by divine providence. It is true that the doctrine of election contradicts the free will of man,28 but free will is a human invention ­ a sinful assumption or aspiration ­ and not a scriptural concept. Therefore, the "free will" objection against divine election fails because free will does not exist.

Many people think that there is a contradiction between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. They assume that human responsibility presupposes human autonomy, or free will. But if God has absolute and pervasive control over all human decisions and actions, then man is not free, and therefore divine sovereignty and human responsibility appear to be in conflict.

Now, the first definition for "responsible" in Webster’s New World College Dictionary is, "expected or obliged to account (for something, to someone); answerable; accountable."29 Regardless of whether man is free or not, man is certainly "expected or obliged to account" for his actions to God. The Bible says, "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). God will reward the righteous and punish the wicked; therefore, man is responsible.

Man is responsible precisely because God is sovereign, since to be responsible means nothing more than being held accountable to one’s actions, that one will be rewarded or punished according to a given standard of right and wrong. Moral responsibility has everything to do with whether God has decided to judge man and whether he has the power and authority to enforce such a decision, but it does not depend on any "free will" in man. Man is responsible because God will reward obedience and punish rebellion, but this does not at all imply that man is free to obey or rebel.

Romans 8:7 says, "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so." Man is responsible for his sins not because he is free or able not to sin; this verse says that he is not. But man is responsible because God has decided to judge him for his sins. Therefore, human responsibility does not presuppose human autonomy or free will, but it presupposes the absolute sovereignty of God. Divine sovereignty contradicts human autonomy, but not human responsibility.30 For many people, the issue now becomes one of justice. They insist that it would be unjust for God to condemn those sinners who were never free to decide or perform otherwise, and who were created for and predestined to damnation by God in the first place. Since this objection will also be relevant when we discuss the doctrine of reprobation, we will deal with it there.

Some people find it impossible to deny that the Bible indeed teaches divine election, and that election is for salvation; nevertheless, they are not prepared to affirm that God chooses specific individuals. They propose that God indeed elects some for salvation, but that election is corporate in nature. They claim that Ephesians 1:4 supports this position: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world." Since the verse says that God’s election is in Christ, the objection against the election of individuals for salvation is that the object of election is Christ, and whoever comes into Christ becomes one of the elect.

However, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27-30, "But God chose...so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God ­ that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." The apostle says that it is God who made the choice in election so that "no one may boast before him." Against those who say that only Christ is the object of election, and that whoever comes into him becomes God’s elect, the passage says, "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus." God chooses who becomes "in Christ," and therefore divine election is in fact a selection of individuals. In addition, corporate election fails to explain why anyone would want to come into Christ without having been individually chosen and then "dragged" to Christ by God.31 According to what we have already established about the depravity of man and his bondage to sin, if Christ were to be the sole object of election, no one would enter into him, and no one would be saved. For a given person to be saved, God must first choose and then directly and powerfully act on his mind. Therefore, we conclude that divine election consists of God’s choice of individuals for salvation, and not the corporate church or Christ. In any case, it is possible to refute corporate election by directly dealing with the passage in question. Ephesians 1:4-6 says: 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.

Ephesians 1:4 says that he chose us "in him," with the object of God’s selection as "us" and not Christ. That is, it says that he "chose us," and not that he "chose him." Ephesians 1:5 excludes corporate election when it says, "he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ." God predestined us ­ not Christ, but the individuals ­ to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. Likewise, verse 6 says, "he has freely given us in the One he loves." God gives salvation to us in Christ; he does not give salvation to Christ and then wait for us to come into Christ by some sort of self-election.

Christ is indeed the elect or chosen one to achieve salvation, but he is not the elect when it comes to who would receive salvation. Election in the context of salvation refers to the individuals that God has chosen to save through Jesus Christ. Christ is the one chosen to save, and the elect are the ones chosen to be saved. The "in him" in Ephesians 1:4 corresponds to the "through Christ Jesus" in Ephesians 1:5 and the "in the One he loves" in Ephesians 1:6, with all three expressions referring to him as the means of salvation, and not the object of salvation.

Another objection against the biblical doctrine of divine election is that it destroys the reason or motive for evangelism. It appears to some people that if God has predetermined the identities of those who would be saved, this would render the work of evangelism meaningless. On the surface, this seems to be an objection arising from a pious and noble concern for evangelism, but the assumption is that the only sufficient reason or motive for obeying the command of God to evangelize is that to disobey it will result in the damnation of many. In other words, one who makes this objection against divine election is implying that he finds it meaningful to obey God in preaching the gospel only if his disobedience will cause his potential audience to suffer endless torment in hell. Although God has commanded him to preach the gospel, he has no incentive to do so unless he knows that other people will be forever condemned for his disobedience. Unless his role in the salvation or damnation of others is determinative, he finds it meaningless to obey the command of God. This objection serves to expose the moral depravity of the one who raises it, but it poses no challenge to the doctrine of election.

Faithful Christians can affirm that God’s command to preach the gospel is more than enough to give meaning and purpose to evangelism. His commands are inherently meaningful, and demand obedience. In addition, we should understand that God controls both the means and the ends. He does not only determine what he wants to happen but also how he wants it to happen, and he has decided that believers should be the means by which other individuals whom he has chosen would be brought to faith in Christ. We should be grateful that God would use our preaching as the means by which he summons those he has chosen for salvation (2 Timothy 2:10).

It is true that God does not need us: "And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else" (Acts 17:25). His commands toward us never reflect his need, since he has none, but they reflect his preceptive will for our lives. We preach so that those who are "appointed for eternal life" (Acts 13:48) will come to Christ, and not because they will be lost without us. Nevertheless, it means more to some people to be needed than to obey the commands of God. The other side of the doctrine of election is the doctrine of REPROBATION. Just as God has actively chosen to save some, he has actively chosen to condemn the rest of humanity. Just as he has determined which specific individuals would be saved, he has determined which specific individuals would be damned: Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath ­ prepared for destruction? (Romans 9:21-22)

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message ­ which is also what they were destined for. (1 Peter 2:7-8)

Many people attempt to dilute this doctrine by saying that God merely "passes over" the reprobates, but the Bible teaches that he actively hardens their hearts against himself and the gospel: But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. (Exodus 10:20) For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:20)

Why, O LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance. (Isaiah 63:17)

He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn ­ and I would heal them. (John 12:40) Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. (Romans 9:18)

What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day." (Romans 11:7-8)

We have already established that free will does not exist in finite beings, and that human responsibility has no direct relationship to free will. It is God who governs all things, including the thoughts and actions of human beings, but human beings are still responsible for their thoughts and actions precisely because God holds him accountable for their thoughts and actions by his sovereign power.

Responsibility presupposes accountability, but accountability does not presuppose ability or freedom. Accountability merely presupposes one who demands accountability. Since God demands accountability ­ since he will reward righteousness and punish wickedness ­ man is accountable. Since God is sovereign, he decides what he wants to decide, and whether human beings have free will or not never has to enter the discussion at all.

Right away the question becomes one of justice. Many people may insist that it would be unjust for God to punish those whom he has predestined to damnation, who could never decide or perform otherwise.

Paul anticipates such an objection in Romans 9:19, and writes, "One of you will say to me: ’Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?’" He replies, "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ’Why did you make me like this?’" (Romans 5:20). God rules by absolute authority; no one can halt his plans, and no one has the right to question him. This is true because God is the creator of all that exists, and he has the right to do whatever he wishes with his creation: "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" (Romans 5:21). The apostle continues to say, "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath ­ prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory ­ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?" (Romans 9:22-24). This is still part of the answer to the question in Romans 9:19 : "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" Paul is saying that since God is sovereign, he can do whatever he wishes, including creating some vessels destined for glory, and some destined for damnation. The elect rejoices in this doctrine; the reprobate detests it. Either way, there is nothing that anyone can do about it. Peter says regarding those who reject Christ: "They stumble because they disobey the message ­ which is also what they were destined for" (1 Peter 2:8).

It is only because of impiety and irrationality that the issue of justice is even brought up against the doctrine of reprobation. The objection in its various forms amounts to the following:

1. The Bible teaches that God is just.

2. The doctrine of reprobation is unjust.

3. Therefore, the Bible does not teach the doctrine of reprobation.

Premise (2) has been assumed without warrant. By what standard is one to judge whether the doctrine of reprobation is just or unjust? If the Bible speaks of it, then it is not up to us to decide the issue. On the other hand, the Christian reasons as follows:

1. The Bible teaches that God is just.

2. The Bible affirms the doctrine of reprobation.

3. Therefore, the doctrine of reprobation is just. The pivotal point is whether the Bible affirms the doctrine; whether it is just or unjust should not be assumed beforehand. Calvin notes: For God’s will is so much the highest rule of righteousness that whatever he wills, by the very fact that he wills it, must be considered righteous. When, therefore, one asks why God has so done, we must reply: because he has willed it. But if you proceed further to ask why he so willed, you are seeking something greater and higher than God’s will, which cannot be found. Let men’s rashness, then, restrain itself, and not seek what does not exist, lest perhaps it fail to find what does exist.32 To dictate how God’s mercy is to be dispensed is evidence proving the utter sinfulness and foolish audacity of man, and not an argument against the doctrines of election and reprobation. To better understand election and reprobation, we must fully affirm what the Bible says concerning human depravity. For example, Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one....for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Every human being is a sinner, and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23); therefore, justice demands that every person be damned. The doctrines of election and reprobation do not say that the elect receive mercy while the non-elect receive injustice. Since all human beings deserve damnation, the biblical doctrines of election and reprobation teach that those whom God has chosen for salvation would receive mercy, and what those whom he has chosen for damnation would receive is precisely justice ­ and that is why they would be damned. God has no obligation to show mercy to anyone at all, and that he shows mercy to some does not mean that he must show mercy to all.

Once it is claimed that God is somehow required to be merciful to someone, we are no longer speaking of mercy, but justice. It is not mercy that grants what is required, but justice. Receiving justice in this case results in eternal damnation and not salvation. What is "fair" is for everyone to be damned, since our sins have rendered this the just punishment. We should be thankful that God is merciful to save anyone at all, instead of accusing him with the blasphemous charge of being unjust or not merciful enough. As Benjamin B. Warfield writes: Shall we not fix it once for all in our minds that salvation is the right of no man; that a "chance" to save himself is no "chance" of salvation for any; and that, if any of the sinful race of man is saved, it must be by a miracle of almighty grace, on which he has no claim, and, contemplating which as a fact, he can only be filled with wondering adoration of the marvels of the inexplicable love of God? To demand that all criminals shall be given a "chance" of escaping their penalties, and that all shall be given an "equal chance," is simply to mock at the very idea of justice, and no less, at the very idea of love.33

Although we have no right to demand an explanation, Paul does tell us why God’s work of reprobation is both good and necessary:

What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath ­ prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory ­ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? (Romans 9:22-24)

God has "prepared for destruction" certain individuals, so that he may "show his wrath and make his power known." Paul explains that, "he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory." In other words, the reprobation of the non-elect is for the express purpose of making God’s glory known to his elect.

Since the elect have been "saved from God’s wrath" (Romans 5:9) by Christ, they will never have the opportunity to experience the wrathful aspect of his nature. But the wrath of God remains an essential divine attribute. As explained earlier, God’s love toward his elect is characterized by his willingness to reveal himself to them (John 14:21-23; John 15:15; John 16:14; 1 Corinthians 2:9-12), and therefore he has prepared the reprobate for such a purpose.

We have already established that God has the right to do whatever he wishes with his creation just as a potter has the right to do whatever he wishes with his lump of clay; therefore, one cannot accuse God of being cruel or unjust for creating and predestining the reprobates for the above purpose. God is the sole moral authority, and the Bible calls him just and good; therefore, whatever he says and does is just and good by definition. It follows that his work of reprobation is thus just and good by definition, and no one can accuse God of unrighteousness ­ there is no standard of right and wrong outside of God by which to accuse God of wrongdoing. God is his own moral standard, and since he calls himself righteous, he must therefore be righteous.

Instead of causing us to question God’s justice, the doctrine of reprobation should further enlighten us concerning God’s great love for his elect. Since God governs even the reprobates to serve his own ends (Proverbs 16:4), and he "causes all things to work together" (Romans 8:28; NASB) for the good of the elect, it follows that he may manipulate the lives of the reprobates in ways that promote the good of his own chosen ones. And Scripture teaches that this is what he has been doing. Thus even the damnation of sinners is for the benefit and edification of Christians, for such is the love of God toward his chosen ones.

SUMMONED

Romans 8:29-30 tells us that to those whom God has chosen for salvation, he has also given a purpose, namely, to conform to the likeness of his Son. And to those whom he has given such a purpose, he also issues a call to them in due time so that they may come to Christ. Thus the passage says, "Those he predestined, he also called" (Romans 8:30).

Remember that all who are included in one phase of the application of redemption also enter into the next phase. All whom God has elected, he has also predestined, and all whom God has predestined, he also calls to Christ. But verse 30 goes on to say, "Those he called, he also justified." Thus all whom God calls will attain justification. And since justification is by faith in Christ, all whom God calls will believe in Christ and be justified. Therefore, God’s calling toward the elect is bound to be effective, and so theologians call this act of God an EFFECTUAL CALLING.

Since the effectual calling is one whose result is guaranteed, it is not like an "invitation" that the elect may accept or reject. Rather, it is more like what we mean by the verb "to summon." In calling his elect, God does not merely invite them to do something, but God himself does something to them. Sinclair Ferguson writes, "He who calls them creates in them the ability to respond so that in the very act of his calling he brings them into new life."34 Thus those whom God has chosen and predestined in eternity, he also summons to Christ in historical time.

God summons the elect usually through the preaching of the gospel. Now, Christians do not first learn the identities of the elect, and then proceed to preach the gospel only to them. Rather, they preach the gospel "to all creation," and "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15-16). Therefore, whether it is in the form of public oration, private conversation, written literature, or other means, the preaching or presentation of the gospel goes forth to both the elect and the non-elect. The elect will come to faith; the non-elect will either reject the gospel, or produce a temporary and false profession of faith.

Because of this, theologians distinguish between the OUTWARD CALLING and the INWARD CALLING. The outward calling refers to the preaching of the gospel by human beings, and is presented to both the elect and the non-elect. On the other hand, the inward or effectual calling is a work of God accompanying the outward calling to cause the elect to come to faith in Christ. The preaching of the gospel appears to everyone as an outward calling, but it also comes as an inward summons to the elect. The outward calling is produced by human beings, but the inward calling is solely a work of God and occurs only to the elect. The inward calling is usually concurrent with the outward calling. In other words, many people may hear the gospel in a given situation, but God will cause only the elect to believe what is preached, while he hardens the non-elect against it.

Matthew 22:14 says, "For many are invited, but few are chosen." The word "invited" in this verse may be translated "called," as many other translations have it. Many are indeed "invited" in that they hear the outward call of the gospel, but only a few are among God’s elect, and therefore genuine and permanent professions of faith only come from the latter group.

REGENERATED

We may define the sinful nature of man as the mind’s strong disposition to evil (Colossians 1:21; Romans 8:5-7). REGENERATION is a work of God in which he changes such an evil disposition into one that delights in the laws and precepts of God (Ezekiel 11:19-20; Ezekiel 36:26-27), and this results in what amounts to a spiritual resurrection. Regeneration is a drastic and permanent transformation at the deepest level of one’s personality and intellect, which we may call a RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION.35 The individual’s most basic commitments are turned to God from the abominable objects and principles that he once served. This change in a person’s first principle of thought and conduct generates a rippling effect that transforms the entire spectrum of his worldview and lifestyle.

Regeneration, or being "born again," occurs in conjunction with God’s effectual call toward his elect (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18), and enables them to respond in faith and repentance toward Christ. This means that regeneration precedes faith; that is, one is not born again by faith, but he is enabled to believe precisely because God has first regenerated him. Faith is not the precondition of regeneration; rather, regeneration is the precondition of faith.

One reason why many Christians think that regeneration occurs by faith is because they have confused regeneration with "salvation" in general, and "justification" in particular. When the word "salvation" is applied to the sinner, it is a general term that may imply a number of things, such as the items that we are discussing in this chapter. On the other hand, in justification God confers upon the elect the legal righteousness merited by Christ in his redemptive work. The Bible teaches that we are justified by faith, and not that we are regenerated by faith. Confusion results when one considers justification and regeneration as both meaning "salvation."

Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). The word "see" here mainly refers to the ability to understand, or "see into." Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." If they cannot "see" the gospel, they cannot accept it, which in turn makes it impossible for them to be saved.

Matthew 13:15 makes a similar point: "For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them." Or, as Mark 4:12 says, "Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!" Only when one is able to see will one understand, and only when one understands will he be able to turn, that is, be "converted" (Matthew 13:15, KJV). If it is necessary to "see" before one has faith, and if the ability to "see" is only possible after regeneration (John 3:3), then naturally regeneration comes before faith. To review, God has chosen a number of individuals to receive salvation. After this, Christ came to this earth and paid the price of sin for the elect. Then, each of the elect is summoned to believe the gospel at specific times designated by God. However, since the elect are born sinners, there is present within them a strong disposition toward evil, rendering them unable and unwilling to respond. Therefore, God regenerates the elect sinners as he summons them, and places in each of them a new nature that is disposed toward God and righteousness. Thus regeneration is a MONERGISTIC work ­ it is a work of God that produces its effects without any cooperation from the one being saved.

John 1:12-13 makes reference to the monergistic nature of regeneration: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (NASB). The passage indicates that regeneration does not occur by belonging to a particular bloodline, nor does it occur by "human decision" (John 1:13, NIV). The popular view of regeneration is that through a "decision" for Christ, man can become born again, and thus saved from sin. However, Scripture teaches that regeneration is wholly a work of God that he effects in his chosen ones, and that it does not occur through the will of man: "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).

It is easy to understand why regeneration must precede faith if we keep in mind that man is spiritually dead before regeneration (Ephesians 2:1; Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23). Because of the mind’s hostility to the things of God before regeneration, the elect by themselves would never come to faith in Christ when presented with the gospel. It is God who acts first, and having changed their disposition from evil to good, and from darkness to light, they then respond to the gospel by faith in Christ, and thereby becomes justified in God’s sight. Acts 16:14 records the conversion of Lydia, and the verse says that it was God who first "opened her heart" so that she could "respond to Paul’s message."

CONVERTED

After God has regenerated him, the elect individual now "sees" the truth of the gospel and responds to the effectual call by undergoing CONVERSION, which consists of repentance and faith. The message of Jesus to the people was, "Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15). And he reprimanded "the chief priests and the elders of the people," that they did not "repent and believe" (Matthew 21:23; Matthew 21:32) under the ministry of John the Baptist. The word "conversion" signifies a turning, and includes both the concepts of repentance and faith. Repentance is the part of conversion in which a person turns from sin, while faith is when he turns to Christ for salvation. The close connection between repentance and faith is also indicated in Hebrews 6:1, where it says the "elementary teachings about Christ" consists of "repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God." The writer calls this the "foundation" or beginning of the Christian life. In REPENTANCE, the sinner first comes to a true intellectual realization of his sinful condition. Since God has already regenerated him, he finds this sinful condition repugnant and determines to turn from both the lifestyle consisting of sins and the individual acts of sins.

Repentance is volitional and not emotional. Although much emotion may at times accompany the turning of the mind, it is not a necessary or defining element. Of course, a mental state consisting of nothing more than an emotional upheaval over one’s sins and shortcomings without a volitional act of turning does not constitute repentance, and therefore will not result in faith and justification.

Conversion does not result only in a negative change, in which one turns from idols, but Paul states that the elect individual also turns "to serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Further, a definite system of theology has been added to the person’s thinking, replacing the former unbiblical worldview. This is the aspect of conversion that we call FAITH.

Many theologians propose that faith consists of three elements: knowledge, assent, and trust. But the following will show that faith consists of only knowledge and assent, and that trust is only shorthand for assent.

KNOWLEDGE refers to the intellectual retention and comprehension of true propositions. This is a necessary element of faith since it is impossible to believe something without knowing what to believe. If one does not know what X represents, he cannot answer the question, "Do you believe in X?" Faith is impossible without knowledge.

God grants knowledge to an individual as the first element of saving faith usually through the preaching or presentation of the gospel. As the apostle Paul writes, "And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:14). Knowledge also implies understanding in this case. Just as it is impossible to believe in X while it remains undefined, so one cannot believe in something while the definition is not understood. Since the gospel is always presented in propositional form, the knowledge and understanding necessary for faith refer to the mental retention and comprehension of the meaning of the verbal statements presented.

ASSENT is agreement to the understood propositions. Although anyone may gain some understanding of the gospel message, not everyone will agree that it is true. It is easy for one to explain to another the scriptural claim of the resurrection of Christ, but whether the hearer will agree that it had in fact occurred is a different matter. As mentioned, the evil disposition of the unregenerate mind prevents one from assenting to the gospel regardless of the preacher’s persuasiveness. Therefore, one must first be regenerated by God, so as to gain a new disposition favorable to the gospel, after which one will readily give assent to the gospel.

Since many theologians think that the non-elect can truly assent to the gospel without "personal trust" in Christ, they also argue that knowledge and assent are not sufficient to save. One must add to knowledge and assent the third element of TRUST, which they define as a personal and relational reliance on the person of Christ. They say that although the objects of knowledge and assent are propositions, the object of trust must be a person, namely, Christ. That is, saving faith believes in Christ as a person, and not a set of propositions.

Although not all theologians distinguish faith into these three elements, many of them define it in ways that amount to claiming that saving faith must move from the intellectual to the relational, the propositional to the personal, and from assent to trust. To them, assent corresponds to a "believe that" faith, while trust is a "believe in" faith. Assent believes that certain things about Christ are true, but trust goes beyond that to believe in the person of Christ. Faith is belief in a person, not certain facts about the person. They point to passages demanding a faith that believes in the gospel. For example, Acts 16:31 says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved," and 1 John 3:23 says, "This is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ."

However, there are conclusive reasons to reject this distinction between assent and trust, and instead to affirm that faith consists only of knowledge and assent.

First, the Bible does not exclusively use the "believe in" type of language when referring to faith. For example, Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). The verse demands that one who comes to God must give assent to two propositions. He must believe that (1) "God exists," and that (2) "God rewards those who earnestly seek him." The writer says that such faith can "please God," and that "the ancients were commended for" having it (Hebrews 11:2).

Second, the New Testament indicates that to believe in Christ means to believe that certain propositions are true: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)

Third, we may demonstrate by an analysis of language that to believe in (or "trust") a person is simply shorthand for believing that (or "assent") certain propositions about him are true. For example, there are two ways to understand the question. "Do you believe in the devil?" The question may either be asking whether one believes that the devil exists, or whether he believes that the devil is worthy of worship.36 That is, the question implies one of the two propositions, and asks the hearer to affirm or deny it. A Christian would affirm the first and deny the second. However, unless the context of the conversation establishes the meaning of the question, or unless the hearer makes an assumption as to the meaning of the question if the context does not provide it, it is impossible to tell which of the two propositions the hearer is being asked to affirm or deny.

If D = "the devil," e = "exists," and w = "worthy of worship," then "I believe in D" may mean either "I believe that De" or "I believe that Dw." Either way, "I believe in D" must represent either of the two "believe that" statements, and thus it is nothing more than a shorthand for one of them.

Likewise, "I believe in God" is a meaningless statement unless it is reducible to one or more "believe that" propositions. In the context of Hebrews 11:6, if G = "God," e = "exists," and r = "rewarder," then "I believe in G" appears to have three possible meanings:37 1. "I believe that Ge"

2. "I believe that Gr"

3. "I believe that Ge + Gr"

Hebrews 11:6 calls for a faith that affirms (3), without which one cannot please God; it is a "believe that" kind of faith. Also, note that to believe in X may imply a "believe that" faith in more than one proposition. In Hebrews 11:6, to have faith means to believe that Ge + Gr.

Therefore, we may conclude that "I believe in X" is simply shorthand for "I believe that X1 + X2 + X3...Xn." This means that to believe or have faith in something or someone is to believe or have faith that one or more propositions about that something or someone are true. To have faith in God and in Christ is precisely to believe something about them ­ to have a "believe that" faith. To say that faith is belief or trust in a person instead of assent to propositions and that faith must go beyond the intellectual may sound more pious or intimate to some people, but this kind of faith is a meaningless concept. A faith that does not "believe that" certain propositions are true does not believe anything at all; the content of this so-called faith is undefined.

Many people claim that James 2:19 is opposed to this view of faith that is only intellectual and propositional. The verse says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that ­ and shudder." To them, this verse indicates that merely to "believe that there is one God," is good because it is assent to a true proposition, but it is not a saving faith. Even the demons, and by implication the non-elect, may have this kind of "faith," and therefore it fails to distinguish the kind of faith that saves with a "mere" intellectual agreement to the gospel.

However, this objection ignores the context of the passage. James 2:17 says, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." True faith results in behavior that corresponds with the content of one’s beliefs. The demons "believe" that there is one God, but they do not act in a way that corresponds with such a belief. Instead of worshiping him as God, they merely shudder and rebel against him.

What James says does not challenge what I have written about faith, but serves to clarify it. He is saying that true faith produces actions that correspond to the assent claimed. Nowhere does he say that the alternative to the "faith" of demons is some sort of "personal trust." Rather, what he says makes it necessary to include in our definition of faith that true assent implies obedience to the necessary implications of the propositions affirmed. For example, assuming that one has correctly defined "God," to believe that "There is one God" (James 2:19) also demands one to worship him, since the word denotes the ultimate being that is inherently worthy of worship. That the demons do not worship "God" implies that they either refuse to acknowledge the full meaning of the word, or they, being fully aware of its implications, refuse to grant it complete assent. A comment by Sinclair Ferguson on faith exhibits the common confusion about assent and trust:

Faith is more than assent, but it is never less than assent. Thomas’ faith in the risen Christ was assent to the fact of the resurrection. But it was more. It was a heart which acknowledged, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).38

However, there is no difference between, "A heart which acknowledged," and "A mind which assented."39 He is making a pious-sounding but meaningless distinction. Further, "My Lord and my God!" is not a person but a proposition. Therefore, although Ferguson seems to be unaware of it, he agrees with us that Thomas’ faith amounts to "A mind which assented to a proposition," and that faith is not "more" than assent.

All of the above considerations result in a biblical definition of faith. Since the nature of faith is assent to knowledge, and this knowledge denotes a retention and understanding of one or more propositions, faith is voluntary assent to propositions understood, and assent here implies obedience to the demands inherently present in the said propositions. The source of these propositions to which one must give assent is the Bible. While saving faith consists of assent to certain propositions related to the redemptive work of Christ, biblical faith in general continues to abide and develop in the Christian as he assents to these same propositions along with other ones in the Bible, and thus he grows in spiritual maturity.

Instead of using the word "trust" to distinguish true and false faith, we only need to distinguish true assent from false assent, or true faith from false faith. True assent means an intellectual agreement with propositions understood that results in obedience to the full implications of the propositions. On the other hand, a person with false assent to biblical propositions claims that he agrees with the Scripture but does not produce the thoughts, speech, and behavior necessarily implied by such an agreement.

Salvation by grace through faith is a gift of God: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith ­ and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God ­ not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Thus faith cannot be manufactured by man, but it can only be given to him. This is consistent with what we have said concerning the monergistic nature of salvation thus far, that from election to regeneration, and now to repentance and faith, salvation is solely the work of God and not of man. Therefore, no one may boast even about his acceptance of the gospel.

Without God’s work of regeneration in which he changes the disposition and volition of man, no one can or will truly assent to the biblical propositions about God and Christ. Our definition indicates that faith has a volitional element, in that it is a voluntary assent to the gospel. The will of the unregenerate man cannot assent to the gospel, but one who has been regenerated by God has also been made willing to accept Christ; God has changed his will. Therefore, God does not "compel" a person to faith in the sense of forcing him to believe what he consciously refuses to accept, but God "compels" a change in the person’s will by regeneration so that his assent to the gospel is indeed voluntary. That is, faith is voluntary in the sense that the elect person does decide to accept the gospel, but he only does this because God causes him to so decide; without God’s power to "compel" or change the will, no one would decide to accept the gospel.

Now, Jesus says in John 7:17, "If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." But Romans 8:7 says, "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so." Since the sinful mind cannot submit to God, it must mean that the person who "chooses to do God’s will" has already been changed by God, so that his disposition is no longer sinful but righteous. He then willingly chooses to do the will of God, and becomes able to discern that the gospel is true. This again implies that regeneration must precede faith, and that faith itself is a gift from God.

JUSTIFIED

Christians are accustomed to thinking that "salvation" comes by faith, especially in opposition to works. JUSTIFICATION is an act of God by which he declares the elect sinner to be righteous on the basis of Christ’s righteousness. Since justification refers to Christ’s righteousness being legally credited to the elect, and thus precedes many of the other items in the application of redemption, in a sense, one is not in error who says that faith leads to the subsequent items in the order of salvation to which justification is the precondition. For example, Acts 26:18 says that the elect are "sanctified by faith."

Nevertheless, regeneration precedes both faith and justification, and is never said to follow or result from faith, nor is it ever confused with justification. It is regeneration that leads to faith, and it is faith that leads to our justification. In other words, having chosen certain individuals to be saved, God sent Christ to die for them and thus paid for their sins. In due time, God changes their sinful disposition to one that delights in his will and laws. As a result, these individuals respond to the gospel in faith, which in turn leads to a legal declaration by God that they have been made righteous in his sight.

Therefore, faith is our divinely-enabled response to God’s effectual calling, and justification is his response to our faith, which came from him in the first place. Paul writes that all who are predestined by God are also called, and since the call is an effective one, all who are called in this manner also respond in faith, and are therefore justified (Romans 8:30).

Scripture asserts that justification comes by faith, and not works. Examples of passages in support of this include the following:

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus....For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. (Romans 3:20-24; Romans 3:28)

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:4-5)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)

Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16) So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24) In light of the biblical emphasis on justification by faith alone, especially in the writings of Paul, some believers are confused by some of the verses in James 2:1-26. For example, James 2:24 says, "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." But the difficulty disappears when we note how the term is used and pay attention to the context.

Note that we are discussing how one word is being used by two different biblical writers. Although we may be assured that all writers of Scripture agree in theology, they do not always use the same words to express the same concepts, and they do not always use the same words with exactly the same meaning or emphasis. For example, although John does not use the word "justification," his writings teach that one is saved by faith alone just as strongly as the writings of Paul.40 We will only list several examples here:

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18)

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29) But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins." (John 8:23-24) But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31) With the understanding that the same word may be used with different meanings by different biblical writers, we may accept the following explanation by Robert Reymond:

Whereas Paul intends by "justified" the actual act on God’s part whereby he pardons and imputes righteousness to the ungodly, James intends by "justified" the verdict God declares when the actually (previously) justified man has demonstrated his actual righteous state by obedience and good works....

Whereas Paul, when he repudiates "works," is referring to "the works of the law," that is, any and every work of whatever kind done for the sake of acquiring merit, James intends by "works" acts of kindness toward those in need performed as the fruit and evidence of the actual justified state and a true and vital faith (James 2:14-17).... And whereas Paul believed with all his heart that men are justified by faith alone, he insists as strongly as James that such faith, if alone, is not true but dead faith: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. [What counts] is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6), which is hardly different in meaning from James’s expression: "faith was working together with [Abraham’s] works, and by works his faith was perfected" (James 2:22). Paul can also speak of the Christian’s "work of faith" (1 Thessalonians 1:3). And in the very context where he asserts that we are saved by grace through faith and "not by works," Paul can declare that we are "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). In sum, whereas for James "faith without works in dead," for Paul "faith working through love" is inevitable if it is true faith.41

Paul wanted to show that justification in the sense of the initial legal declaration of righteousness by God comes only by faith in the work of Christ, but James was more concerned with showing that if such faith does not result in a righteous lifestyle, that faith is not true faith in the first place, and the legal declaration of righteousness by God never happened at all. Since one is saved not by good works but for good works (Ephesians 2:10), a person does not need to produce good works to be saved, but if he does not produce good works after he claims to be saved, then he has never been saved.

Thus James did not deny that legal righteousness comes by faith alone ­ that was not his topic ­ but he wanted to challenge his readers to demonstrate that their faith was genuine: "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do" (James 2:18). His emphasis was not in how one attains legal righteousness, but how one who claims to have attained such righteousness should behave: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27). The legal nature of justification means that the righteousness credited to the elect is an IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS rather than an INFUSED RIGHTEOUSNESS. God sent Christ to pay for the sins of the elect, then he grants faith to the elect as the means by which to legally credit the positive righteousness of Christ to them. The righteousness bestowed upon the elect is thus not one that they have earned or produced by themselves, but one that has been generated by Christ and given to them as a gift. Therefore, when we affirm that justification is by faith alone, we are in fact affirming that justification is not by our own efforts, which can never attain justification, but that our justification is by Christ alone, who has attained justification for us.

Since justification involves a legal declaration, it is an instantaneous act. One is either justified or unjustified; one does not become justified gradually, but he is declared righteous instantly when he believes the gospel. Therefore, the concept of justification excludes the process by which the believer grows in knowledge and holiness, which is part of sanctification.

Christians who affirm justification by faith alone nevertheless often confuse imputed righteousness and infused righteousness. Justification is imputed righteousness, and sanctification is infused righteousness. Justification is an instant declaration of righteousness, but sanctification refers to a believer’s spiritual growth after he has been justified by God.

ADOPTED

Having been declared righteous by God, ADOPTION is an act of God whereby he makes the justified elect into members of his family.

Some people think that every human being is a child of God. Against this misconception, the Bible instead teaches that every non-Christian is a child of the devil: The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. (Matthew 13:38) Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (John 6:70)

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? (Acts 13:10)

He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8) This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10) Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. (1 John 3:12) On the other hand, those who are saved by Christ have also been made the children of God: For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:14-17, NASB)

It is no small matter to be called the children and heirs of God. Perhaps this doctrine has been so diluted and abused in Christian circles and in the world so that we are not as in awe with it as we should be: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him" (1 John 3:1). An important implication of having been adopted into the family of God is that we may now relate to him as our Heavenly Father, and that we may now have fellowship with other Christians as true family members. In fact, the bond between Christians ought to be stronger than that which exists between natural family members. We have been bound together by the will of God, the blood of Christ, and a common faith.

Most people assume that the Bible teaches us to treat others in an impartial way. For example, one should not give special treatment to a rich man just because he is rich (James 2:1-9). However, the Bible does not teach that we must treat all people alike; rather, we are to give certain people the priority: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10). We are to put Christians first when providing assistance to other people.

We must be careful to avoid confusing adoption with other items in the benefits of redemption. For example, regeneration is spiritual resurrection, which enables the individual to respond positively to God, but one does not become a child of God through it. It is possible for a rational creature to be spiritually alive without being a member of God’s family in the sense denoted by adoption. Angels may be an example of this class of beings. In addition, adoption is not justification. It would be possible for God to legally declare one to be righteous without also making this person a son through adoption. One who has been regenerated and justified already stands righteous before God, and will never be condemned (Romans 8:33). But the doctrine of adoption further enlightens us as to the extent of God’s love toward his elect, that in addition to saving them from sin and hell, he would make them his children and heirs.

Several items in the benefits of redemption have been distorted by some people to denote deification; the doctrines of regeneration and glorification are especially prone to abuse. A proper understanding of adoption should help us in avoiding this error. One preacher said the following:

Peter said it just as plain, he said, "We are partakers of the divine nature." That nature is life eternal in absolute perfection. And that was imparted, injected into your spirit man, and you have that imparted into you by God just the same as you imparted into your child the nature of humanity. That child wasn’t born a whale! [It was] born a human. Isn’t that true? Well, now, you don’t have a human, do you? You are one. You don’t have a god in you. You are one.42 This preacher either meant something else and was being misleading, which implies extreme carelessness and utter disregard for the preaching ministry, or he meant what he said, which constitutes blasphemy of the most horrific kind. In other words, if this was just a bad choice of words, then it was a very bad choice of words; if it was a good choice of words, then it was a very blasphemous doctrine. Either error is sufficient to result in his dismissal from the ministry, if not excommunication from the church.

Jesus is God’s "one and only Son" (John 3:16; see also John 3:18, 1 John 4:9); he has a unique place before God and a unique relationship with God. We are God’s adopted children, and regeneration did not make us part of the Trinity! That Jesus is also referred to as the "firstborn" (Romans 8:29) denotes his preeminence among God’s creation and his elect in accordance with the Hebrew mindset, and does not mean that we are God’s subsequent children in the same sense and in the same order of God the Son. For example, Colossians 1:15 says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." This does not mean that the universe and the planets are also God’s children.

SANCTIFIED The word SANCTIFICATION may be used in two senses. DEFINITIVE SANCTIFICATION refers to the new believer’s instant and decisive break from the dominion of sin when he comes to faith in Christ. God has consecrated and separated him from the world. But in this section, we are interested in PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION, which refers to the believer’s gradual growth in knowledge and holiness, so that having received legal righteousness in justification, he may now develop personal righteousness in his thought and behavior.

Some people make the mistake of thinking that the whole of sanctification is like justification in the sense of being an immediate act of God whereby he causes us to achieve perfect holiness in thought and conduct, and thus imply that true Christians would no longer commits sin at all. However, although it has a definite point of beginning at regeneration, the Bible describes sanctification as a growth process, so that one increasingly thinks and behaves in a way that is pleasing to God, and conforms to the likeness of Christ. A number of passages in the Bible may give the impression that one ceases to sin altogether after regeneration. For example, 1 John 3:9 says, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." But this verse is only saying that one who is born of God does not continue in sin, and not that he does not sin at all. In fact, earlier he writes, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). That is, a regenerated person should exhibit a definite transformation in his thought and behavior. Perfection is not in view here, but an unmistakable turn from evil thinking and living toward holy thinking and living. In the same letter, the apostle John writes, "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense ­ Jesus Christ, the Righteous One" (1 John 2:1). The atoning work of Christ has effectively paid for not only those sins we had committed before regeneration, but also those subsequent to it. However, John does not write this to grant us the liberty to sin, but instead he says, "I write this to you so that you will not sin." The verse also shows that he does not demand the Christian to have achieved sinless perfection, since he makes provision for one who does sin, saying, "But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense."

Hebrews 12:4 presents sanctification as partly a "struggle against sin," but the Bible also tells us it is one that we can win. Paul writes: Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:13-14)

Sin is not our master, so we do not need to obey it. We have been set free from sin so that we may now live righteous lives. As with all the areas of our spiritual life, the way we grow in holiness involves the intellect and volition, or the understanding and the will. Peter writes, "Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:2-3). We grow in spiritual maturity first through knowledge. It would be impossible to shun wickedness and pursue righteousness without a clear conception of what wickedness and righteousness mean, and what kinds of thoughts and actions come under each. As for our volition, Paul writes, "Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). As with all the items that this chapter discusses, sanctification is a work of God; however, it is SYNERGISTIC in nature, meaning that in a sense it is also a work of man, and requires his deliberate will and effort in the process. On this subject, Paul writes:

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. (Php 2:12-13)43 The believer is to actively take his part in sanctification, so that he pursues a life of obedience to God "in fear and trembling."

Nevertheless, the passage continues to explain that even the working out of our salvation is ultimately a work of God: "It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Our decisions and actions remain under God’s control after regeneration and sanctification. Therefore, although one is conscious of his efforts and struggles in sanctification, in the end God gets the glory, and the believer still cannot boast of his own achievements.

PRESERVED

All who goes through one phase of the application of redemption will also experience the next phase. For example, all whom God has predestined, he will summon to salvation in due time. Now, Romans 8:30 says, "Those he justified, he also glorified." This statement necessarily implies that all who experience justification will also experience glorification; no one who is justified will failed to be glorified. Since glorification refers to the consummation of God’s saving work in the elect, this means that once an individual has been justified in God’s sight, his legal righteousness will never be lost. Since all those who are justified will also be glorified, true Christians will never lose their salvation. This doctrine is often called the PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS, and also ETERNAL SECURITY in some circles. These terms are accurate, since true believers do consciously persevere in faith and the elect are indeed eternally secure in their salvation. However, many biblical passages dealing with this topic emphasize that it is God who actively preserves the believer from the beginning to the end of his salvation, that Jesus is "the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). This being the case, PRESERVATION is a better term. It reflects the fact that God is ultimately the one who maintains the Christian’s salvation, and not the believer himself.

Favoring the perspective of preservation does not deny that the believer must deliberately improve and consciously struggle in order to persevere. It is unbiblical to say that since it is God who ultimately keeps us, that we therefore need not exercise any conscious effort in our spiritual development. "Let go, and let God," a popular phrase that probably came from the Keswick movement, is unbiblical as applied to sanctification. However, the word "preservation" helps to remind us that it is God who grants and causes any improvement and stability in our growth in knowledge and holiness, even if we are painfully aware of the efforts we have exerted toward our spiritual development. There are many biblical passages teaching that God preserves those whom he has elected, regenerated, and justified:

I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. (Jeremiah 32:40)

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. (John 6:37-39)

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29) For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:8)

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22) Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Php 1:6) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. (2 Timothy 1:12) The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:18)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade ­ kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:1) To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy ­ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24-25) The doctrine of preservation does not say that anyone who makes a profession of faith in Christ is then saved and will never be lost, since his profession may be false. Rather, the doctrine teaches that true Christians will never be lost. They will never permanently turn from Christ, although some of them may even fall deeply into sin for a time. A true Christian is one who has given true assent to the gospel, and whose "sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5) becomes evident through a lasting transformation of thoughts, speech, and behavior in conformity to the demands of Scripture. John says that one who is regenerated "cannot go on sinning" (1 John 3:9). On the other hand, a person who produces a profession of Christ out of a false assent to the gospel may last "only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away" (Matthew 13:21).

Sometimes even the elect may fall into serious sin, but such a fall is never permanent. Nevertheless, while a person is living a sinful lifestyle, we have no reason to believe his profession of faith at that moment, and therefore should think of him as an unbeliever. Jesus teaches that a stubborn refusal to repent is sufficient reason for excommunication:

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that "every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17)

Since he is considered an unbeliever, he cannot be a candidate for marriage by a Christian, he cannot participate in communion, and he cannot hold any ministerial responsibilities. He may indeed be a true Christian, but there is no way to be certain of this while he remains in sin. Instead, he should be considered and treated as an unbeliever, along with all the implications of such an assumption. "Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10).

Those who fall away and never repent have never been truly saved. John says, "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us" (1 John 2:19). Judas appeared to have followed Jesus for several years, but Jesus says, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" (John 6:70). John 6:64 explains, "For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him." So it was not as if Judas had true faith, and then fell into sin and lost his salvation, but he never had true faith at all. Jesus chose Judas knowing that he would be the traitor: "While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled" (John 17:12). This verse presupposes divine election, and explicitly teaches the doctrines of preservation and reprobation. Jesus kept safe the eleven, who were among the elect, but Judas was lost because he had never been saved in the first place; he was among the reprobates, "doomed to destruction." On the other hand, those among the elect who appear to fall from their faith nevertheless retain their salvation, and they will return to Christ according to God’s power to preserve them. For example, even before Peter denied Christ, he was told, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32). It is true that if one’s faith is truly lost, then he has also lost his salvation; however, it is God himself who prevents the faith of his elect from failing. And just as Jesus prayed for Peter, he is now praying for all Christians, so that no matter what spiritual problems they appear to be experiencing, in the end their faith will not fail: My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. (John 17:20)

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

Jesus made no such prayer for Judas, but he only prays for his elect: "I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours" (John 17:9).

One of the most common objections to this doctrine states that if it is true that the believer cannot lose his salvation, then this constitutes an implicit license to sin. The Christian may sin all he wants, and yet remains secure in Christ. However, the true Christian does not wish to live in sin, although he may occasionally stumble. The true believer detests sin and loves righteousness. One who sins without restraint is not a Christian at all.

There are a number of biblical passages that command Christians to pursue righteousness and shun wickedness. Some of these passages are so strong in expression and contain warnings so ominous that some people misinterpret them as saying that it is possible for a true believer to lose his salvation. For example, Hebrews 6:4-6 says the following:

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

First, whatever the passage means, it does not say that the elect will in fact renounce his faith. Let us assume that the passage is indeed saying that if one falls away from faith after reaching a certain stage of spiritual development he would indeed lose his salvation. This does not challenge the doctrine of preservation ­ in fact, we may heartily agree with it. If the elect sincerely and permanently renounces Christ, then he loses his salvation. However, we have already read a number of verses saying that this will never happen, that the true believer will never sincerely and permanently renounce Christ, and the above passage says nothing to contradict this. John says that those who depart from the faith have never been truly with the faith.

Second, several verses later, the writer explicitly states that what this passage describes will not happen to his readers: "Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case ­ things that accompany salvation" (Hebrews 6:9). To paraphrase, he is saying, "Although we are talking this way, I am sure that when it comes to salvation, this will not happen to you."

Third, we must remember that God uses various means by which he accomplishes his ends. For example, although he has unchangeably determined the identities of those who would be saved, he does not save these people without means. Rather, he saves the elect by means of the preaching of the gospel, and by means of the faith in Christ that he places within them. God uses various means to accomplish his ends, and he chooses and controls both the means and the ends.

Accordingly, just because we are told that the elect will persevere in faith does not mean that God does not warn them against apostasy. In fact, these scriptural warnings about the consequences of renouncing the Christian faith is one of the means by which God will prevent his elect from apostasy. The reprobates will ignore these warnings, but the elect will heed them (John 10:27), and so they will continue to work on their sanctification "with fear and trembling" (Php 2:12). Concerning the words of God, Psalms 19:11 says, "By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward."

Endnotes:

1. "And who, in this world of death and sin, I do not say merely will, but can, will the good? Is it not forever true that grapes are not gathered from thorns, nor figs from thistles; that it is only the good tree which brings forth good fruit while the evil tree brings forth always and everywhere only evil fruit?...It is useless to talk of salvation being for ’whosoever will’ in a world of universal ’won’t’"; Benjamin B. Warfield, The Plan of Salvation; Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2000 (original: 1915); p. 43.

2. Jesus contradicts the common assumption that responsibility presupposes ability ­ that is, the assumption that if one is unable to accept the gospel, then he should not be blamed for rejecting it. However, Jesus says that all human beings are unable to accept the gospel unless enabled by God, but all who reject the gospel will still be punished for their unbelief. Thus responsibility does not presuppose ability. We will discuss this further in what follows.

3. No one can decide to believe the gospel against his sinful disposition, but faith must be sovereignly granted by God as a gift (Ephesians 2:8), and he does not give faith to all human beings.

4. God continues to direct both our decisions and actions according to his own purpose even after we have become Christians. We are conscious of our spiritual efforts, but such efforts are still only products of the sovereign power of God.

5. God appointed the reprobates "to suffer wrath," but he appointed the elect "to receive salvation."

6. Faith is a necessary condition for justification, but faith is not the reason or cause for election, but rather the product of election. Faith in Christ is the means by which God saves those whom he has chosen.

7. Although election is not corporate, the group of chosen individuals naturally forms a "chosen people."

8. In some instances, the "book of life" refers to natural life (Psalms 69:28; Exodus 32:32; Daniel 12:1), but the term is used of eternal life in later Judaism and in the New Testament (Php 4:3; Revelation 3:5). Thus in some passages where it appears that God may blot out the names of some from his book, it is referring to natural life, while in the New Testament, the emphasis is more on eternal life, and the names written in the book of eternal life will not be blotted out. Revelation 3:5 says that God will not blot out the names of those who overcome, and some people misunderstand this to imply that one may indeed be blotted out after his name has been written in the book. But 1 John 1:4 promises us that "Everyone born of God overcomes the world." Since all true believers will overcome, and those who overcome will never be blotted out, it follows that true believers will never be blotted out. Therefore, instead of allowing the possibility for true believers to lose their salvation, Revelation 3:5 makes it impossible. Now, Revelation 17:8 says that the names of all individuals were either written in or excluded from the book of life "from the creation of the world," so that the identities of the elect and the reprobates have been unchangeably determined. Also, since God elects or rejects individuals by name, election is not corporate in nature. See New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition; Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996; p. 144-145.

9. Michael Magill, New Testament Transline; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002; p. 540.

10. Thomas R. Schreiner & Bruce A. Ware, ed., Still Sovereign; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000; p. 186.

11. F. B. Huey, Jr., Jeremiah & Lamentations (The New American Commentary); Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1993; p. 50.

12. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1984; "Foreknowledge," p. 420.

13. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters; Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1993; "Foreknowledge, Divine," p. 310-311.

14. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 2; Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982; "Foreknowledge," p. 336-337.

15. Still Sovereign, p. 194-195.

16. F. F. Bruce, The Letter of Paul to the Romans (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries), Revised Edition; Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985; p. 166.

17. Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (The New International Commentary on the New Testament); Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996; p. 532-533.

18. John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, Vol. 1; Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997; p. 316-317.

19. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary; Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986; "Foreknowledge."

20. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, p. 311.

21. Kenneth S. Wuest, The New Testament: An Expanded Translation; Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

22. Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H. Revell, 2000 (reprint of 1957 edition); p. 80.

23. R. K. McGregor Wright traces the concept of free will to humanistic and anti-Christian systems of philosophy, and notes its historical infiltration into the church. Of course, the human obsession with autonomy was in fact first introduced to Adam and Eve by the devil himself (Genesis 3:1-7). Some translations of the Bible contain the term "freewill" in a number of verses, but these instances do not relate to our topic, since they only refer to "freewill offerings" as opposed to legislated and required offerings. "The point is a distinction in the Law, not a metaphysical statement about whether the faculty of choice is caused or not"; No Place for Sovereignty: What’s Wrong with Freewill Theism; Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996; p. 157. Likewise, Luther writes, "That is to say, man should realise that in regard to his money and possessions he has a right to use them, to do or to leave undone, according to his own ’free-will’ ­ though that very ’free-will’ is overruled by the free-will of God alone, according to His own pleasure. However, with regard to God, and in all that bears on salvation or damnation, he has no ’free-will’, but is a captive, prisoner and bondslave..." He suggests that the "safest and most Christian thing to do" is to "drop this term altogether" when speaking of man. Luther, The Bondage of the Will; p. 107.

24. Ibid., p. 43-44.

25. Gordon H. Clark, Predestination; Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1987 (original: 1969); p. 113.

26. The biblical view of divine sovereignty necessarily implies that God is the ultimate and immediate cause of all "motions" or events, whether physical or mental. Since human decisions are not self-caused or uncaused, but caused and determined by God, free will as defined here does not exist.

27. Luther, The Bondage of the Will; p. 105.

28. "One of the standard objections to predestination is that it conflicts with free will. The person who makes this objection is undoubtedly correct on one thing, viz., free will and predestination are contradictory concepts. No one who knows the meanings of the terms can believe both doctrines, unless he is totally insane"; Clark, Predestination; p. 110.

29. Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition.

30. "The error of Arminianism is not that it holds the Biblical doctrine of responsibility, but that it equates this doctrine with an unbiblical doctrine of free will"; Charles H. Spurgeon, "Free Will ­ a Slave." Also see Iain H. Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon; The Banner of Truth Trust, 1988.

31. Corporate election destroys the meaning of divine election by returning to a view of salvation that amounts to self-election, since the sinner must somehow be able to choose Christ without being first chosen and enabled by God. Thus corporate election must face all the problems associated with self-election and human autonomy, which we have refuted. This unbiblical position ignores those biblical passages teaching that God selects individuals for salvation, some of which we have already listed or discussed. John 10:3 says, "He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

32. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion; Edited by John T. McNeill; Translated by Ford Lewis Battles; Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960; p. 949, (III, xxiii, 2).

33. Warfield, The Plan of Salvation; p. 80-81.

34. Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction; Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1997 (original: 1981); p. 34.

35. It is "radical" in the sense that it affects the very root of a person’s personality.

36. There are other possibilities depending on the context of the conversation, but we will settle with these two for our purpose.

37. It is impossible to affirm (2) by itself, since one cannot believe that God is one who rewards those who seek him unless he first believes that God exists ­ unless what is meant is that God would be one who rewards those who seek him if (1) is true, although the person denies it.

38. Ferguson, The Christian Life; p. 66.

39. "Acknowledge" is just another word for "assent," and we have previously established that the heart is the mind or intellect.

40. We can find another example in the doctrine of election. John emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation just as much as Paul, but the two use different words to teach the same doctrine.

41. Reymond, Systematic Theology; p. 750.

42. Kenneth Copeland, "The Force of Love" (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries), cassette tape #02- 0028. Cited in John F. MacArthur, Jr., Charismatic Choas; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992; p. 331. When Paul Crouch said, "I am a little god!" Copeland responded, "Yes! Yes!" Again, when Crouch said, "I am a little god! Critic, be gone!" Copeland responded, "You are anything that He is." Ibid., p. 332-333.

43. The word "salvation" should not be confused with justification, since Paul is not speaking of attaining legal righteousness before God in this passage. Regeneration, justification, sanctification, and so forth all come under the general term "salvation," and so the reader should pay attention to the context to see in what sense is the term being used. Here Paul admonishes the believers to exert conscious effort in their spiritual growth, or sanctification.